The makings of a sister
by LightningWolfHowl
Summary: TAG 2015. Series of stories with Kayo, as she begins her life with the Tracy family and grows up with them, becoming their sister.
1. Tanusha

**_Author's note : This is my first Thunderbirds fanfic and the first time I've ever written in this style._**

 ** _Disclaimer : I really own nothing here._**

 ** _Anyhow, the parts in italic are in Malay and in bold are meant to be in English._**

 _ **Thanks for reading.**_

 ** _/_**

She would never forget where she had lived the first years of her life.

It was a wonderland in many respects.

A wild place, the Borneo rain forest had been rescued from deforestation by various global organisations sometime in 2030. She was vaguely aware of that fact, although at the time, it hadn't seemed all that important to her.

All she knew, all that she cared about was that she was free so long as she remained inside of the camp and the rain forest made a wonderful playground. Of course, there was always someone watching her. One of the workers or more often her mother. Still, she could spend her days climbing through the trees, chasing the jungles smaller and more harmless creatures or on the lookout for tigers.

She would run along laughing and screaming through the camp. Every day seemed to bring joy and the promise of a new adventure.

She attended a small school which had been set up near the camp. Like almost all of the other kids there, her parents worked as part of the Tracy Industries mining expedition. She was probably a little too young to fully understand but it seemed to have something to with some special rock that could power things, at least that's what her parents had told her.

Her exploring and chasing through the rain forest causes her mother to despair as no sooner has she cleaned up her daughter than she will be climbing another tree or crawling through the bushes after a lizard. Every evening, she has to have a shower to clean off the day's accumulated dirt. Even although her nails are short, she somehow manages to get inches of dirt underneath them. Her hair isn't much better always having twigs in it which she's picked up involuntarily. They call her wild and maybe she is.

It doesn't matter what time of the day it is, she is always able to find her parents to show or tell them about something new she's discovered in the world. They smile and act as if she's made a brand new revolutionary discovery. Somehow, even if they're busy, they always find time for their daughter.

She rushes to see her father, it doesn't matter to her whether he's busy or not. It doesn't occur to her that when he's talking to the tall important looking man in a suit, that it might be important and that now might not be the a good time to disturb him. Instead, she charges over to him. When he doesn't immediately spot her, she tugs on his hand with her free one.

" _Tanusha? What is it?_ " He asks his voice kind but that tells her none the less that this isn't the best time.  
" _Look what I caught_!"

She holds out a small fury creature which is probably scared out of its wits. It looks around startled, probably believing that it's about to become dinner for these strange bipedal creatures which had invaded it's home. Kyrano blinks a couple of times, wondering just how his daughter managed to catch such a creature before picking her up in one arm.

" _It's a treeshrew, my darling._ " He informs her.  
" _Can we keep it?_ " She asks with big pleading eyes.  
" _Now, Tanusha, that wouldn't be fair would it?_ " Her father tells her, full of infinite patience. " _It belongs in the wild. Like the tigers. Go put it back so it can be with its family._ "  
" _Okay..._ " She mutters disappointed.

Her attention suddenly focuses on the stranger as if it's the first time she's seen him. There are a lot of strange people like him around the camp, her father calls them Americans. They speak in some strange language she can't understand and are quite different to the people she's used to. She's seen this one around quite a lot, he's important, father speaks with him in American.

When he notices that she's starring at him, he offers her a warm and friendly smile which reminds her of father's. Kyrano smiles at his daughter's curiosity.

" _This is Jeff Tracy. I work for him. He's a very important man. He runs things here._ " He declares. " _What do we say to people we've just met Tanusha?_ "  
" _Hello, Mr. Tracy._ " Tanusha speaks loudly, with confidence sometimes uncommon in kids of her age.  
" _Yes but what if they're American?_ " Kyrano chuckles slightly, aware that Jeff probably knows what she's saying.  
" **H-Hello Mr. Tracy.** " She manages more shyly in her best English.  
" _Hello, Tanusha._ " He speaks to her in heavily accented Malay. " _Kyrano big say about you._ "

She laughs at his poor Malay. Earning a disapproving look from her father as well as a reminder about good manners. Mr. Tracy doesn't seem to mind however and she decides that all in all, her dad's boss is probably okay. She's put back down a couple of moments later and is told to go and release the captive shrew and that they'd be time for playing later after her parents had finished work. She runs off laughing, heading towards the forest.

Mr. Tracy and Kyrano watch her disappear smiling to themselves.

" **Cute kid.** " Jeff remarks thinking back to his own family, currently being cared for by his mother.  
" **She is very bright and always running around. We are very proud.** " He pauses for a moment before laughing. " **She wants to be a flying tiger when she grows up.** "  
" **Kids are like that.** " Mr. Tracy laughs along. " **One of mine wants to be a squid.** "

Mr. Tracy eats diner with them fairly regularily. Her mother prepares a meal as the sun begins to set over the jungle. She learns that this strange American was once an astronaut, that he flew higher than the sky, into space where the stars are. She can help but look at the star-traveler with wonder and with infinite patience on behalf of both the former astronaut and her parents, they are able to translate some of his tales of what it's like among the stars.

At night, her parents tuck her in. She lies there, exhausted from the day's running around but begging for another story or telling them about how she wants to fly.

" _One day, you too will reach the stars..._ " They promise her.

The days there used to just roll into one another. Each bringing joy and excitement and always something new to discover.

Every evening, she would run home following school and tell her parents about everything that had happened. Everything that she had learned, all of her dreams and how she wanted to fly in the sky. They would listen with endless patience, amused by the way that their daughter talked about everything in the world as if it were new and wonderful.

Back then, she had known no pain, no suffering. Not yet. Her only cause for complaint was that she hadn't ever seen an elephant and her father promised to fix that once the mining operation was set up and fully functioning.

Her father was a good man, kind and gentle who wanted the best for all. That was why he was so keen to help Mr. Tracy set up the mining in a way which wouldn't damage the local wildlife or at least as little as possible and the businessman seemed only too happy for that to happen. More than that though, he was her father, always there for her, encouraging her, telling her never to give up and to go and reach for the stars. One day, she would fly, he promised her.


	2. Fire

_**Sorry for those mistakes. I'll admit English isn't my first language and as for "tails" and "tales", well, I guess I must have been seriously tired. Thanks for the review though!**_

 _ **/**_

It started early in the morning, very early. She was sleeping silently in her room, in the small house they lived in near the camp. Something, for some reason had caused her to wake up. She couldn't quite say what, even at the time but something felt _off_... The forest was deathly quiet. There wasn't the usual sound of frogs croaking and insects chirping all through the night. Instead, nothing but silence.

Slowly, a mixture of anxiousness and fear had begun to form in the pit of her stomach. She slipped out of her bed, tiptoeing her way into the living room. She flicked the light switch but for some reason, the lights didn't come on. Now, she was really scared. She heads over to what she knows is her parents room, stumbling over and gazing her knee, unable to see in the almost perfect darkness.

The door was locked.

Never in her life had she known her parents to lock the door.

Panicking suddenly, she began to bang as loudly on the door as her little fists would allow. There's a faint red glow coming from the other side of now and the wood feels hot. She bangs all the louder, crying out as loudly as her lungs will allow.

" _Mommy! Daddy!_ "

There's smoke now too, it's coming under the door, through the air vents... It burns her throat and stings eyes. The heat is rising too. She's scared but her parents still aren't coming. She cries all the louder, tears adding themselves to her frantic screaming and hammering on the door. She goes on like that for twenty seconds or so before suddenly a figure appears behind her.

" _Tanusha?!_ " Comes an outraged and angry cry. " _What are you doing there?!_ "

She turns around sheepishly. It's uncle.

She hasn't seen him in a while. He used to work with her father, a little before Jeff came to visit. Uncle was always coming up with plans and schemes to make money, usually they were just brushed off but last one had ended in an argument between him and her father. She could remember eavesdropping from the safety of behind one of the doors, she knew her father would disapprove but she's never really been one for obeying anyway. She hadn't quite understood what it involved but her mother, who had caught her, had told her that her uncle's plan was _wrong_. He'd left shortly afterwards and she hadn't seen him since.

Now, he's pale and looks almost sick. He's wearing a cloak of some kind, with a hood pulled over his head but she recognizes him. He has her father's eyes, they're hers as well.

She can't help the tears which are coming down her cheeks now. Uncle's never had much time for crying but she can't stop. She rushes forwards and grabs a hold of him.

" _You can't stay here!_ " He barks at her, seemingly unmoved.  
" _Mama and papa..._ " She begins pointing at the door.  
" _Aren't coming!_ " He snapped coldly.

Suddenly, the door bursts down, consumed by flames. She screams. Fear flashes in her uncle's eyes and for a moment, he turns as if he's going to run and leave her there. Then he stops. She'll never know why and she suspects that neither will he but he looks back. His eyes meet her teary and terrified ones.

He picks her up, slinging her over his shoulder and starts sprinting. He runs as fast as his legs will carry him with her screaming for her parents as the fire claims the rest of her home and everything inside of it.

Outside, its not just her house which is ablaze but the entire camp and half the forest. Flames tear into the air, illuminating the sky with a sinister red light. She looks on struck dumb by the power and the destruction. Fire tears through everything as soon as it has consumed one tree or one building it moves onto two others. There are people, workers screaming and panicking as they get hoses and buckets and whatever else they can to try and contain the blaze.

The smoke is so thick and so black that it covers the stars and the moon in the sky above. Shrouding them in a darkness, she's never quite experienced before.

She doesn't have time to take anything else in. They're running again. Rather than head towards the workers frantically trying to battle the fire and save those who might have become trapped in some of the buildings and houses. Her uncle carries her away, deeper into the forest. She's too scared to ask why or to complain.

Finally they stop. She can hear the screaming and shouting in the distance and the roar of the fire as it burns through the forest. Even from where she is, the flames are visible as they reach up into the sky.

Her uncle puts her down inside a small cave, perhaps an animal's burrow at the foot of a huge old tree. It's quite deep but not all that large.

" _Stay here!_ " He instructs her, his voice angry.  
" _But..._ " She manages to croak out all the same. " _What about mama and papa?_ "  
" _They're not coming, Tanusha!_ " He screams at her suddenly furious. " _And they never will! Now you stay here!_ "  
" _What about you?_ " She sobbed, tears once more cascading down her cheeks.  
" _I'll be fine._ " He assures her, she might have imagined it but his voice seemed to soften along with his eyes for a couple of brief seconds but then, they're ice again. " _You never saw me!_ _Now you have to stay here!_ "

He pushes her back into the cave roughly to enforce the point and with that he's gone.

She waits in the little burrow for a few minutes. He'll be back... Her uncle wouldn't leave her and neither would her parents. She tells herself they'll come back for her any second now. Her father will come and pluck her out of her hiding place and hand her over to her mother, who'll sing some of her favorite lullabies and tell her that everything will be all right.

Time trickles by. There's a faint red glow outside of the cave now. It's getting hotter. The fire's found her. For a couple of seconds, she dares to venture outside and look around. The trees seem to have become pillars of flame. Everything's a blaze... Fire is everywhere, all around her. The campfire has become a wildfire and there's no stopping it now as it consumes everything in it's path.

She gets burnt. It's brief but the fabric of her right slipper catches fire. She instinctively kicks it away. The pain around her right ancle is all to real however. It's enough to get her to run back inside. She can't bring herself to look at the wound, instead, curling up in a ball around it.

Terrified, she screams. Crying out for uncle to come back. She doesn't want to be left here. He doesn't come back. She switches to her parents, who up until tonight have never let her down. Still, she finds herself alone.

Outside of the cave, the roar of the fire is everywhere. The heat has risen to unbearable levels. The air is thick and it seems to scold her lungs and nose just to breathe. She's coughing too, as ash from the fire begins to fall like burning snow. The blaze is cruel, it doesn't care what's in its way. People, trees, animals it destroys everything and Tanusha Kyrano finds herself trapped in the very center of it all.

Curled up in a little ball, sobbing quietly, she stays there trapped by the flames and honestly believing that she's going to die. She realizes that uncle was right and that mother and father aren't coming...


	3. Ashes

It's a day later when they find her.

It's a miracle they find her.

Still, curled up. She's unaware that the fire has passed. That it's been contained by hours of effort and gallons of water. To her, the fire's still going on outside even although it passed by having consumed and destroyed, everything there was to consume and destroy. Everything, except for her. She stopped noticing time passing, round about the same time that her tears stopped coming. It was about the same time that she realized she's never going to see her parents again.

A passing workman, surveying the damage done by the fire happened to stumble across what was left of a slipper, somehow spared by the flames. For some reason, his eyes fall upon a small burrow or cave near what's left of a once tall and ancient tree and is now no more than a charred stump. He'll never know why but something inside of him tells him to go and look inside. What he sees, astounds him as it seems to defy nature itself.

A small girl, no older than 7 or 8, is lying there inside the cave, somehow still alive. He calls some of his friends over and cautiously, they get her out. She screams when they pick her up, tears streaming down her cheeks. She's got some burns and has obviously been out here for a while. Realizing that she needs medical help they take her back to the infirmary at the camp.

Tanusha is only vaguely aware of what happens in the hours afterwards. The ground is scorched, thick ash covers it. There is still some smoke rising but the flames have died down now. She's taken to an infirmary that's been set up on the grounds where the camp once stood. Now, only a few charred buildings remain still standing and most of them have been deemed too hazardous to enter. They pass where her house once stood, there's nothing there but ash and a few timbers now...

It's a day later and she's been admitted to a local hospital.

Jeff Tracy lets out a sigh as he enters one of the rooms. He's just got off of the phone with one of his finance advisers, the fire is in every sense of the word a catastrophe. It's a fair bet that the mining project is going to be handed over to a rival company and Tracy Industries faces serious fines for negligence which resulted in massive damage to the surrounding environment. In all, five of his employees are dead, fourteen more are seriously injured; ultimately, it's the human factor which really matters to him.

Deals come and go every day. Money is lost and won back again if you're savvy enough. Even the forest, will grow back if given enough time. Lives however can never be recovered, no matter how hard you try. An orphan will never their parents again. He knows that from personal experience.

" **How's she doing?** " He asks one of nurses who speaks English.  
" **Better physically.** " She replies looking at the charts. " **Otherwise she's still an eight year old who just lost her parents...** "

Jeff nods solemnly. Kyrano is dead. So is his wife. Their daughter however by some miracle which nobody can quite figure out is alive.

She suffered from several burns almost all second degree ones. Then there's the smoke which has irritated her lungs and the dehydration to take into account. She's still alive though and her physical condition is no longer the main cause for concern. She has a drip in her right hand feeding her fluids, painkillers and some other medication.

She's not eating or sleeping. Instead, she just lies on her side curled up in a little ball. If anyone tries to talk to her or attempts to convince her to eat something, she asks for her parents. When told that they're dead, more or less directly, she just closes her eyes and sobs for the next few hours until someone else comes along and it starts over again. They've called for a child psychologist but they all know this isn't going to be an easy fix.

" **Is it okay if I give this to her?** " Jeff asks designating the small toy he's got under his arm.  
" **Of course... Just, don't expect much of a response.** " The nurse advises sorrowfully. " **A broken heart at her age takes time to heal...** "  
" **Has no one else come?** " Jeff askes curious as to why the girl had received no other visitors since.  
" **She has no one else...** " Is the nurse's only reply.

The sight of Tanusha Kyrano lying in her hospital bed reminds him very much of his own sons following a similar disaster which claimed the life of their mother. Each of the boys had had their own ways of dealing with the loss but they had all suffered, just as he had. The young girl's eyes slowly drift over to him but she shows no other signs of life. Jeff lets out a sigh.

This brings back way too many painful memories.

" **Hey there Tanusha. How you feeling?** "

It's not just the language barrier that causes the girl to turn away and bury her head in the sheets. She's not interested unless it's her parents. Jeff, sits down in a chair, even from where he is he can see some discoloration and blisters on her skin. The kid must be in quite a bit of pain. Hence, the drip and painkillers. Her mother or father would make it better, they couldn't make it go away but at least ease it somewhat but they're not here any more and the loneliness, that hurts more than anything else.

" **I brought you something...** "

The girl's eyes flicker over to him briefly before focusing on the stuffed toy he's offering her. It's not much, just a stuffed tiger he'd picked up at a local souvenir shop but Jeff remembered Kyrano's words about how his daughter loved tigers and although this one doesn't have wings, he hopes it will at least give her some comfort, no matter how small.

For a moment, she looks like she might be about to remain silent and turn away as she has with all the others. Then, very slowly, she stretches out a small trembling hand, reaching for the toy. Jeff gives it to her and she holds it close to her heart, burying her head in it. Some tears are brimming behind her eyes, threatening to pour down her cheeks.

" _Ibu... Bapa..._ " She lets out in a soft sob.

Jeff's Malay is poor to say the least. He only knows a few basic sentences, thanks to a textbook which he had been reading whenever he had the time (which was virtually never). Kyrano had been doing all of the translation work. He is fairly sure however that he could have understood what Tanusha was saying in any language under the sun : a child asking for their parents was a pretty universal affair.

What he lacked was the ability to tell her that they couldn't be with her any more. That they would always be watching over her but that they wouldn't want her starving herself like this, they wouldn't want her to go on crying and locking herself away from the world. He couldn't though. Instead, he just let out a frustrated and sorrowful sigh.

His eyes drift over to the food that had been left for her : apple puree or something similar. She obviously hadn't touched it. He wonders how far it would have to go before they tried force feeding her.

" **Come on, little one...** " He speaks softly to her, aware that he can't understand his words but hoping that the tone would somehow transfer the message. " **You're too young to do this to yourself. I know it hurts but your parents wouldn't want this, would they?** "

Something odd happens, Tanusha's little eyes raise themselves to look at him. There's something else in them now. She's listening to him. God knows, she probably can't understand a word that he's speaking to her but she's still paying attention to him. She's looking up at him, she sniffles slightly and holds the soft tiger a little closer to her. Her green eyes are focused almost exclusively on him, waiting for what he's going to say next.

" **You're brave aren't you, Tanusha?** " He continues in the same voice. " **You survived that fire. That means that a piece of your mother and father continue to live on in you... So how about it? Are you going to try eating something?** "

Jeff offers her a kind smile. She raises her head slightly to look at him, blinking a couple of times as she did so.

The nurses can't quite believe their eyes when they walk into the room to find their previously almost catatonic patient eating her food under the caring gaze of a multi-billionaire American. She isn't smiling, not anywhere near it but she is eating, tucking into the mushed up fruit with a spoon.

It isn't long afterwards when he's called by the hospital staff, there's a translator with them, thankfully. They explain the girl's situation to him.

She's an orphan. They've done their research, she does have an uncle but he's not been seen or herd from in months and may very well be dead as well as far as anyone knows. She's alone in this world and nobody will be coming for her.

He doesn't at first understand why they're telling him all this, sure it's tragic but he can't see what he can- Then it slowly dawns on him. The global conflict has left its marks across the world and has left literally thousands of orphans. In some places, they're struggling to cope. They don't need another. There is only one person who she seems to have warmed to, ever so slightly...

He hesitates. He has experience with children yes, five of his own. He's rich, financially another child wouldn't be a problem but his own flesh and blood also have scars much like Tanusha... The death of their mother is a fresh wound and hasn't quite healed over yet. He doesn't know how they'd respond to a new addition to the family. Besides, taking in a child is a fair bit more complicated than adopting a puppy...

He almost says " _no_ ". It's on the end of his tongue. He'll pay for her scholarity, and anything else that she might require but he can't possibly-

He looks over his shoulder back into the room. Sitting on her bed, Tanusha is starring at him through the glass, her green eyes so sad and lonely and so very close to those of his sons when they were asking when their mother would come back.

He lets out a soft sigh and runs a hand through his hair... It's days like this that he wishes Lucille was still with him the most.


	4. Islands

" **You okay back there?** "

He gets a little whimpering noise and a nod.

It's a week later and he's flying home. Sitting in the seat behind him is a small Malaysian girl. She doesn't say much, instead looking out of the window of the small jet as they fly through the sky. It's late or early, depending on how you look at it.

She's exhausted. Time has past and she's well enough to travel with him. He's got a bag full of what few possessions she still has and another one with some medicine should her burns flare up once more and cause her more pain. Still, he can see the girl struggle to keep her eyes open as they fly through the stary skies.

He's warned his mother. Well, mostly... He's asked her to get the guest bedroom ready but didn't tell her why or that their guest might be staying for an extended amount of time. He's sure that she would likely have tried to talk him out of it. At the moment, he's not too sure what she's going to say and frankly isn't looking forwards to having to explain the entire situation to her. She can be quite the battleaxe at times...

By his feet, is a folder. It contains a series of documents given to him by the Malaysian authorities, fortunately, they're in English. They give him legal authority over Tanusha Kyrano.

They don't know who killed Kyrano and his wife and they don't know how much Tanusha saw but she saw someone. She admitted someone helped her out of the burning house but she won't say who. Maybe with time, she'll open up but for the time being, she needs a home...

A home is where she's being taken to and frankly, Jeff still can't believe it's his own. There are many alarm bells going off in his head at the moment, they have been for some time now, they're telling him this is a bad idea. Still, what's done is done and he can't very well turn the plane around and hand her back to the Malaysian authorities...

" **Tracy Island, this is Tracy 1.** " He calls out over the radio. " **Making our final approach now.** "  
" **About time!** " Comes the voice of his mother.  
" **I bet you can't wait to get out of this thing.** " He speaks to his passenger.

He gets a little nod as a response. The girl doesn't really try speaking to him. She knows a few words in English but not enough to hold a conversation. That makes things complicated. Still, he's already hired a private English tutor for her. That should at least make things a little easier.

The plane touches down on the runway leading towards the island. They're not even fully stopped and he can already see his mother coming over to see just what all the commotion is about. Jeff, lets out a sigh and turns towards the girl in the back. She won't let go of the stuffed tiger he offered her in the hospital which she holds close to her heart as if it's the only thing still keeping her alive.

" **Time to face the music, eh kid?** "  
" **I don't understand...** " Comes her quiet reply.  
" **Well, we've arrived.** " He speaks clearly and slowly so that she might understand. " **Just stay here for a sec, whilst I deal with something...** "

He gets out of the plane, leaving the girl for a few moments. She'll be fine, the main danger is that he ends up falling asleep in there. His mother is waiting for him, hands on her hips and a glare cold enough to turn any man's blood to ice. Yep, he's in trouble. She's not best pleased with him and to be fair, she might very well have reason to be. In fact, Jeff suspects that the reason that he isn't being yelled at right now is that it's 3.24 A.M and the boys are probably asleep.

" **Jefferson Tracy!** " Her voice is as cold as her eyes. " **You had better have one hell of a good excuse young man!** "  
" **I know mother, it's just I got a little held up and-** "  
" **I know about the fire!** " She cuts him short with a wave of her hand. " **You should still have been back days ago. What kept you? And who's this visitor you brought with you?!** "

He lets out a sigh and decides that the best way to stop the tidal wave of questions is to let his mother see for herself. Without saying anything else, he takes her over to the plane. Tanusha looks up with tired eyes obviously struggling to stay awake. Her eyes slowly drift over from the face of Jeff whom she recognizes to the strange new woman. She blinks a couple of times before rubbing her eyes.

" **Oh my...** " Is all that Grandma manages to get out.  
" **This is-** " He pauses for a moment wondering how best to describe her. " **Our guest...** "  
" **What's your name sweetheart?** " The old woman asks.  
" **Tanusha Kyrano.** " She replies in a shaky voice.

Grandma nods, as if the girl has passed some kind of test. Jeff helps her out of the plane, she steps on the tarmac uncertainly. Her little sleepy eyes look around the mystical island she's just landed on with a mixture of curiosity and fear; it's true that in the dark, it can look like a strange place. She turns to him and starts speaking rapidly in Malay, a nervous tick she's developed as she seems to forget that he can't understand what she's saying.

" **Easy there...** " He requests softly. " **What is it Tanusha?** "

She hesitates, lacking the English to explain. Instead, she gets out a little drawing pad which she was given following a eureka moment from Jeff - and quickly doodles a house. She hopes he understands. Usually he does but sometimes it degenerates into charades. A small smile, tells her he's got the message.

" **Yes. This is our house-** " He replies with a smile. "- **and this is my mother.** "  
" **Hello, Mrs. Tracy.** "  
" **Hello Tanusha. It's very nice to meet you.** " She replies obviously still a little taken back before smiling softly. " **I bet your tired, aren't you?** "

She blinks a couple of times before remembering what tired means. She nods slowly. Yes, she's very tired, in fact she's struggling to stay awake. These past few days have been nothing but hassle and she still misses her parents.

Jeff soon sees that Tanusha is falling asleep on her feet and picks her up in her arms. He's had to carry each of his boys like this a few times and it's nothing new to him. He carries her through the villa, treading quietly so as not to awaken any of his slumbering sons. If one were to wake up and see him, it would be like disturbing a hive of bees, they'd be swarmed and right now, Tanusha needed her rest. He'd explain things to them in the morning...

The guest room is plain and blank, largely because they've never actually had any guests. They've not been living here all that long and it still very much feels like a "new house". Still, the room will have to do for their guest. She is almost asleep already in his arms as he puts her down. She wakes up slightly starring up at him and his mother with eyes clearly struggling to stay awake.

" **You just call if you need anything, okay?** " He requests, hoping she understands. " **I'm the last door on the left and my mother's room is just opposite. You understand?** "  
" **Yes.** " She nods tiredly.  
" **Well, then goodnight Tanusha.** " He declares speaking softly. " **Sleep well.** "  
" **Goodnight Mr. Tracy. Goodnight Mrs. Tracy.** " She mutters, her heavy eyelids already closing.  
" **Night night Tanusha, you get your sleep...** " Grandma Tracy requests closing the door.

She's asleep almost as soon as the door was closed.

Jeff would rather liked to have been able to go and collapse on his bed and sleep for the next week. Unfortunately, his mother has other ideas. She leads him back into his office. A serious and grave expression marked on her face. He's beginning to regret not warning her earlier about just who their visitor was. He sits down in his desk chair whilst his mother stays standing, arms folded and expecting answers.

" **Who is she, Jeff?** " She asks finally letting loose.  
" **She's the daughter of my guide and business associate back in Malaysia. Both her parents were killed in the fire.** " He explains thinking back. " **She hid in the jungle and survived somehow...** "  
" **And what about those marks on her skin, were those burns?** "  
" **Yes. The doctors told me they'll heal. It'll take some time but she will**." He assured his mother trying to calm her.  
" **Is she in any pain?** "  
" **Sometimes but it's getting better.** " Jeff replies honestly.

His mother nods a couple of times before letting out a deep sigh. She lost her husband not that long ago in the same accident which took Lucille from them and as such, she knows all about loss. She also knows that her son is still grieving as are her grandchildren and she can't help but wonder if Jeff has thought through all of consequences of his action, as kind and noble as it might have been. Unfortunately, it's her job to remind him of them.

" **Doesn't she have someone else?** "  
" **They can't find her uncle, not that he was the family-type anyhow.** " Jeff muttered looking down at the floor. " **She's all alone.** "  
" **Look, Jeff...** " She starts, trying to think of a way to put it gently to him. " **What you did was very noble and I'm proud of you but you realize that if things get complicated or they don't work out, you can't just take her back.** "  
" **What do you mean?** " He asks a little confused and unsure what his mother is getting at.  
" **I mean she's a child, not a puppy and you know very little about her.** " The aging woman lets out a sigh. " **What about the boys, have you thought about that? I don't need to remind you that it's only been fourteen months? Those wounds have only just began to heal...** "

Jeff lowers his head. He hasn't forgotten about his beloved sons, nor has he neglected to think about just what they're going to make of the new arrival. They're pretty good natured boys, he can't see any of them being particularly problematic. True, they haven't exactly had much contact with other kids their age recently but he's confident that they won't cause much trouble. Although there is a lingering fear in his mind about what if they don't like Tanusha or she dislikes them, an island is too small a place for there to be open hostilities.

" **I'll talk to them in the morning.** " He declares rubbing his face. " **She won't be any trouble...** "  
" **With all due respect, you don't know that...** " Grandma warns him sternly before softening her voice slightly and letting out a sigh. " **Still, at least she's got a home now... We'll just have to deal with any issues if and when they arise.** "  
" **You're right.** " Jeff yawns loudly, unable to hide his tiredness.  
" **You should get to bed!** " His mother tells him. " **You've been up far too long.** "  
" **I know...** " He gets up heading for the door. " **Goodnight mother.** "  
"' **Night Jeff.** "

Jeff is almost out of the door, still chewing over his mother's words. Lucille's death still hung heavily over the family. Her absence left a gaping hole in their lives. He had taken in Tanusha, trying to imagine what his wife would have done were she in his place. Although with retrospect, it had been a rushed decision and he hadn't thought of all of the consequences... Still, like his mother had said, they'd have to cope somehow.

" **Oh and Jeff...** " Her voice draws his attention once more.  
" **Hm?** " He grunts too tired to reply properly.  
" **Lucille would have been proud.** "

He gives her a tired but grateful smile. She has always possessed the ability to make him smile and to give him strength when she choses. He's just sorry he can't think of the right words to say thanks...

It's later that night when Tanusha is awoken from her sleep. All the other lights in the house are off. She's still tired and the moonlight's shining in her window. A noise prevents her from drifting back to sleep. It sounds like there's something shuffling around in her room. She holds her tiger a little closer to her and closes her eyes, hoping that whatever it is will go away.

" **Hey, you were right!** " Comes a little voice in English.  
" **Told you!** " Replies someone else.  
" **It's definitely a girl...** "

Despite her fear, curiosity eventually gets the better and she opens her eyes. Before her, are ten wide and curious eyes ranging in color from brown to a vaguely turquoisy color. They are staring at her with great interest, as if they haven't ever seen another human being like her before. There's curiosity, amusement but also a noticeable amount of suspicion there.

Unsure what these strange boys want, she ducks under the covers and hides herself. Maybe then they'll leave her alone.

" **I think you scared her...** " Comes a higher pitched voice.  
" **Me?!** " One of the boys asks outraged.  
" **Shh! Quiet you two!** " Whoever speaks sounds slightly older. " **You'll wake dad up! Hey, what's your name?** "

It takes her a second for her to realize that one of the strangers is talking to her. She knows what the words are and recognises the question. She hesitates, unsure whether she should tell them. Maybe if she does, they'll go away. So she ends up blurting it out loudly, shrieking in a trembling voice which is slightly muffled by the covers she's hiding behind.

So it's no surprise that the boys don't hear it properly.

" **What did she say?** " Asks one of them. " **Tanaro?** "  
" **Sounded more like Kanaryo to me.** " Responds another.  
" **Kayo**!" Chimes an almost baby like voice.  
" **Kayo? Was that it?** " Asks the older boy from earlier.

She has no idea what they're going on about or what they want. She'd rush for the door to go and get Mr. Tracy and his mother if she could but right now they're in the way and she's too frightened to cry out. Nobody told her that there was anyone else on the island and her English is too poor to understand most of what they're saying.

She can hear them talking and whispering to each other. They speak as quietly as possible to avoid waking the house's older inhabitants.

" **What do we do?** " Asks one of the boys.  
" **I've got an idea.** " Speaks another. " **I'll be back in a sec.** "

It's quiet for a few minutes. Well, relatively anyhow. She can still hear four voices chattering in hushed tones.

After a little while, the door opens once more and the stranger returns. A small hand puts something under her covers, just in front of where she's hidding. She backs away instinctively before her eyes focus in on what it is : a chocolate bar. She hasn't had one of those in a while, not since... She tries not to think about it.

Instead, she cautiously reaches out and takes it. She probably shouldn't be eating in between dinner and breakfast, certainly not chocolate but she's 7 and she's not one to turn down a sweet. She opens the packet and eats it slowly, feeling slightly guilty. She doesn't even realize that the covers she was hiding underneath have been pulled away until she's starring at five very curious looking boys.

" **Yup, it's definitely a girl.** " Deduces a boy of about her age with dark hair.  
" **Of course it is Virgil.** " A redhead replies seemingly a little frustrated. " **I told you what I saw!** "  
" **Quiet both of you! If dad wakes up we're toast!** " Commands the oldest and tallest of the boys before turning to her and speaking softly. " **I'm Scott. You're Kayo, then?** "

She blinks a couple of times, unsure what to make of all of this. She couldn't say how old the youngest of the boys is but he's clinging to the red haired one who's probably a little older than she is and doesn't look like he can quite understand what's going on. His blue eyes are fixed on her though as if she's something magical.

A blonde boy stands next to the lad with dark hair and brown eyes, they both seem to be rather amused by everything that's going on. She has no idea who these boys are and although they don't seem bad, they still frighten her a little.

Scott's blue eyes are kind though and they give her some confidence. He's offering her his hand, a little unsure, she stretches out her own, it's a lot smaller than his. Slowly, she takes it and comes out fully from her hiding spot.

" **These are my brothers, Kayo.** " He tells her pointing at each of them. " **This is John, Virgil, Gordon and that's Alan, he's only just turned two.** "  
" _Brothers? Is Mr. Tracy your father?_ " She asks gaining some confidence as she has their names.

They just stare at her, obviously unable to understand a word that she was saying. The boys exchange glances. She isn't too sure if they had expected to be able to understand her or not. In any case, they are unable even to guess what language she is speaking.

It could have been a show stopper but instead, they change to miming and attempting to act things out. It's not a whole lot better but at least it's a step in the right direction.

They call her " _Kayo_ ", she thinks it's some sort of mishmash between Tanusha and Kyrano from when they had misheard her. At first, she thinks about trying to correct them but the more they use the name, the more it feels _right_. Tanusha carries bad memories; fire, pain and loss. She can still hear her parents calling after her using that very name and it hurts but Kayo is new, Kayo is fresh and she doesn't have any baggage.

So, she becomes Kayo. After all, everyone's been telling her that this is the chance for a new life and a new beginning. So surely, a new name is called for.

She's laughing at Gordon. The five year old is pulling funny faces, something he seems to have a gift for. Virgil, Scott and even John are also chuckling, even although they've seen it before. Suddenly, the door swings open and Grandma is standing there.

" **What are you boys doing up?!** " She asks keeping her voice quiet so as not to awaken her son but still managing to let them not she is not pleased.  
" **We just wanted to see Kayo...** " Scott steps out in front of his brothers looking decidedly uneasy.  
" **Kayo?!** " It takes Jeff's mother a second to grasp who they're talking about. " **No. She's-** "  
" **I'm Kayo!** " The girl declares firmly.

Grandma stares at "Kayo" for a couple of seconds, not sure whether to end this madness now or to leave it until the morning. Her eyes find the clock in the room, 5.a.m, is definitely too early to be dealing with this kind of thing. So she lets it slide. Jeff will have to talk to her, after all, this was his ingenious idea...

She lets out a frustrated sigh and pinches the bridge of her nose with exasperation.

" **All of you boys to bed!** " She commands pointing outside. " **We'll deal with this in the morning! And I warn you, you had better be asleep in five minutes or else there will be punishments dealt out!** "  
" **Okay grandma...** " They mutter skulking away.  
" **As for you young lady, now that you've met the rest of the family, you had better get to bed too!** " She declared turning to Kayo. " **You understand me, don't you?** "

Kayo nods. She might not understand all the words but the meaning couldn't be easier to understand. She slowly makes her way over to her bed. Grandma Tracy contemplates her sternly for a few moments before sympathy gets the better of her. She makes her way over to the child and tucks her in.

" **I can tell already you're going to be a handful...** " She tells the young Malaysian in a soft voice. " **So it's a good thing we all are on this island. I'm sure you'll fit right in. Now you get to sleep.** "  
" **Yes, Mrs. Tracy...** " Kayo mutters the same tiredness coming over her. " **Goodnight...** "  
" **Night, night Kayo...** " Grandma heads over to the door. " **Now you get to-** "

She doesn't finish her sentence. The girl is already fast asleep and in a world of dreams far away. A small smile graces the old woman's lips, maybe this might not be such a mistake after all...


	5. Home

_**Thanks for the review. Yeah, I noticed there weren't many Tin-Tin/Kayo fics, there's not even a button to select Kayo as a character for your story.  
**_ _  
_ _ **/**_

It's been three weeks.

Kayo is slowly but surely settling in to her new home.

She doesn't allow herself to be called Tanusha anymore. She's Kayo. Mr. Tracy asks her about it and she explains. Well, more accurately, her English tutor acts as a translator for them. She tells him that Tanusha brings back bad memories but that Kayo is fresh, Kayo is a new start.

He never calls her Tanusha again.

Her English is coming along steadily. Her tutor is a friendly woman who speaks with an English accent, she spends a few hours every day talking to her over a video link and learning the language. Strangers don't come to the island. So she learns from afar. She is a dedicated student, always doing her homework and trying her best. She has to learn English, it's the only way she's ever going to understand what those strange boys are saying to her.

She calls them _strange_. It's because to her, they are. She's never met any boys quite like them. They're a family, closely knit and always there for each other. Yet despite that, all of Jeff's sons are so very different from one another. Not just physically but also the way they behave.

She's gotten to know them now and spends most of her free time with them.

There's Scott. She likes him. He's the oldest. He tried to learn Malay in the early days so as to be able to speak with her, unfortunately, it would seem he's not much of a linguist but he still made the effort and she won't forget that. He seems to spend much of his time keeping an eye on his brothers and tending to their needs, rather than his own. He wants to fly, they have that much in common. There's something about his entire demeanour which just screams big brother and even although she can't understand most of what he's saying, she can tell it's nice and kind. His main problem is that sometimes he acts too much like an adult and seems to forget his true age, a fact which his brothers often point out to him.

John who's only a little older than her is strange indeed. He's by far and away the quietest of the brothers and prefers to read a book rather than join in any games or rough and tumble. Usually, Virgil or Scott end up dragging him into it. It takes her a while to realize that he dreams of the sky, not in the same way that she does, he wants to go higher, to the stars. He spends his nights looking up to them and his days reading about them. He loves his brothers though, he just doesn't show it as openly. The one exception would seem to be Allan, for some reason, the boy has endless patience where his youngest brother is concerned and will happily spend hours telling him about the planets. When it comes to John, Kayo doesn't know quite how to act around him, preferring to leave him to himself more often than not.

Virgil is in a way rather similar to his immediately older brother. He's closest to her in age but cries a lot. The boy seems to have taken it upon himself to feel for all of his siblings. If Gordon falls over and hurts himself, Virgil will almost inevitably tear up. It's an odd specticle but one which confirms to Kayo that he is a kind and gentle soul. He hates violence and will end up crying again if two of his siblings are arguing. He loves drawing. The tables are covered with doodles done by Virgil and if he's not drawing, he's playing the piano; playing tunes that his mother would play to them. She likes to sit there and listen to him play; it's not perfect but Virgil is young and for a boy of his age to be playing the way he can play, it's surely a sign of great talent.

Gordon is without a doubt a handful. Grandma Tracy and Jeff have warned her never to let him out of her sight and to be careful about leaving him unsupervised with anything that she might treasure or plan on eating later on. At first, she can't understand why. Then, when Scott comes running out of his room with confetti physically stuck to his hair, she understands why. For a five year old, he is a genius, it's just a shame he uses his brains for such destructive and sometimes downright evil practices... He loves the pool and it can be hard to get him out of it. He seems to have made it his new purpose to get her to laugh, if he feels that she looks a little down, he'll always come over and pull some funny faces or tell her a joke, not that they're any good.

The last and youngest is Alan. She can't really say much about him. Being an only child with no younger cousins or other family members, she's never really spent any time with young children. As such, she finds herself wondering if two year olds should really be allowed to crawl through the ventilation shafts or encouraged to dismantle pretty much everything by their older brothers. She always thought that they were supposed to be kept close to hand and out of trouble but the youngest seems to love it. As a child, Kayo never found herself that interested in dolls and as such, wasn't overly impressed by Allan when she first met him, especially not when he started throwing food around. Apparently, the feeling isn't mutual, as Alan seems to be utterly fascinated by her. He spends much of his time starring at her with his big puppy blue eyes and sometimes, they're enough to make her think that he's actually rather cute in an odd way...

Despite the large age difference separating the oldest from the youngest, the boys never seem too old or too young to play together. They'll go exploring the island, splash around in the pool, play tag, board games, soccer, basketball... Anything and everything. There is a bond there which is stronger than words but that's always present, be it in a laugh, a smile or a pat on the back. She joins them, playing along.

Jeff will watch out of the window of his office sometimes. He's a busy man. She's learnt that. His trip to Malaysia has left him with a backlog of paperwork and running a company the size of Tracy Industries was never going to be an easy affair. So he spends much of his time in his office, where they mustn't disturb him. He's up before any of them and almost always the last to bed.

That's not to say that he ignores them or forgets about them. Quite the opposite, whenever he has half a second free, he'll join them or watch from the sidelines. He often asks her if she's okay and she replies in her best English that she is and that she's very happy to be here. He loves his sons, that much is plain to see.

He reminds her of her own father quite a lot at times and it can hurt in an odd way which she can't quite explain.

She makes the mistake once of asking where Mrs. Tracy is.

She knows she's done something wrong when the ambiance in the room suddenly changes and becomes cold. The boys quieten up and Mr. Tracy looks away, unable to respond. She lowers her eyes realizing that she's put her foot in it and had touched on a very sensitive subject. She's about to apologize when a warm hand takes hers and leads her away.

It's grandma. The other occupant of their household. She explains that Lucille or "Lucy", Jeff's wife and the boys' mother was killed in an avalanche not all that long ago and that it still _hurts_. One day maybe they'll be able to talk about her and tell Kayo how lovely she was but not now, not yet. It's something best not mentioned, they have to wait until the wounds heal over and that can take some time.

Kayo just nods, thinking of her own parents. She never brings Lucille up again.

Grandma Tracy is an odd one too. Kayo calls her _'Meludah api demon'_. Unable to speak Malay, the old woman assumes it just means grandmother or old woman, something simple and just smiles indulgently. When Kayo's tutor asks them why her young student keeps on refering to Ruth as ' _Fire spitting demon'_. Jeff falls off of his chair laughing. It's the way that the young girl says it, it's not said out of malice or anger, it's very matter of fact. Yes, the old woman is a fire spitting demon, so what? She might as well be calling her 'aging woman'.

For a moment, Jeff worries that his mother's going to be angry. Instead, she puts an arm around Kayo's shoulders, who can't quite understand what's going on and laughs :

" **So a fire spitting demon am I? Well, better than** _ **'that old bat'**_ **, eh?** "

So the nickname sort of sticks, at least so long as Kayo's speaking Malay rather than English.

Over all, as strange as things are here and as bizarre as the small island's inhabitants can be; she quite likes it. The eccentricity adds a sort of familiar and safe feeling to the place. It almost feels like home...


	6. Freedom

_**Hi! Thanks for the reviews. I'm sorry for the bold parts but I couldn't think how else to show when they're speaking English or Malay.**_

 _ **Pipe Dream : I didn't know you were going to write a similar story. I'd love to read it!**_

 _ **/**_

"Well?" Asks Virgil who's got Gordon sitting on his lap.

Jeff peers over the top of the papers he's holding in his hands. Twelve large and pleading eyes are looking up at him expectantly, their owners hanging on any and every word before he's even uttered them. The smile is a dead give away and already the six children are grinning themselves.

"Well, okay then. That's your work done for the day."

There's a torrent of cheers and 'yays' as the group all charge out the door, narrowly missing knocking over their grandmother as they do so. For a moment, she looks at them disapprovingly before a small smile graces her lips too, happiness truly is contagious.

It's the same story pretty much every day. At the end of their lessons, the boys have to hand over their work for their father to go over and check for any mistakes. So long as there aren't too many, they're off of the hook and they can go and have some fun.

 _Fun_ on Tracy Island can mean pretty much anything and the children pretty much run free.

Kayo follows the boys outside. They run past the pool and the basket ball hoop and head towards the forest. It's not as big as the one that she had known back in Malaysia but it's trees none-the-less. They never have a particular plan on what they're going to do but inspiration never fails to come from somewhere.

One day they'll be playing soccer, the next it'll be swimming in the pool, climbing down the side of one of the island's cliff's (much to Jeff and Grandma's terror), doodling with Virgil although not necessarily on paper, experimenting, exploring... There's a long list and they can always find something to add to it.

They run across the island, screaming with joy and laughing as they went. Sometimes, one of them might fall over and graze their knee or cut themselves. Then they'd pick themselves back up and chase after their brothers.

Kayo teaches them them how to climb through the trees. Gordon loves nothing more than exploring the rock pools and the waters by the shore. Virgil will often get them drawing a huge picture all together which ends up making no sense as they can never agree on what to draw so they finish with squids in space with flying tigers or something similar. Scott's more one for organized sports, teaching them the rules of soccer, baseball and basketball only for them to invent their own. It's hard to tell with Alan, he's always with them and just seems to go with the flow. Even John, usually reserved and happier with a book, is rather fond of hide and seek.

There are some days when they virtually disappear and end up giving Jeff and his mother a heart attack. Usually, they've just vanished to one of the more distant sides of the island. Theoretically, there are rules and areas off-limits but the boys' father knows he's kidding himself if he thinks that they actually listen to him. So he ensures that they're as safe as they can be and reminds them on an almost daily basis to stay away from high cliff faces.

They're more or less utterly free. With nobody else on the island for them to bother, they can be allowed to run wild. There are occasional arguments but Kayo notices that for some reason, these brothers never really fight.

The main problem that Jeff and Grandma have is managing to gather them all again for dinner time. Not wanting to lose their voices shouting after the unruly mob, they invest in a whistle and that sometimes works. It all depends on who's cooking.

If Jeff's been bogged down in work and hasn't managed to reclaim the kitchen from his mother, then it can be near impossible to track them down after their self-preservation instinct kicks in. The boys' father will go looking for them in the woods and usually takes his sweet time when trying to track them down. In fact, depending on what's cooking, he may or may not join them. Then, later on, they'll try and sneak back inside but for some reason, Grandma must have some super sense or something because she always finds them and then it's meatloaf surprise...

Even after dinner, the kids will beg to go back outside. They're not allowed to stray too far from the house, so usually it's just some ball games whilst Jeff manages to get a few more hours of work in.

The day's fun and games takes its tole on them. Sometimes, Jeff will be called from contemplating company sheets by his mother. In the main room, the little group will be on the sofa, it's past their bedtime but that doesn't really matter as they're already asleep. Grandma Tracy has come up with an ingenious method to get them to finally calm down before bedtime. She'll put on a movie and sometimes, if they've been less troublesome than usual even give them a small bowl of popcorn.

Kayo has some very fond memories of those evenings curled up on the sofa, watching an old Walt Disney movie. Of course, more often than not, they only end up watching a part of the film before they fall asleep, exhausted by the day's activities. Once or twice, they were left to sleep there but most nights they were either gently woken up and guided sleepy eyed to their respective bedrooms or if they were really exhausted, they might get carried to them.

She's not forgotten her parents. Far from it. They remain very present in her mind and she does miss them dearly but it doesn't hurt as badly anymore. This place and the joy that exists here seems to have some sort of magical effect on her as it does on the Tracy family, it's more than just an island, it's a barrier between them and pain which can come from the outside world.

Here, she feels as if nothing could harm her because there's nothing here to do so.

She feels as if she's free.


	7. Friends

A chance to escape the island is a rare one but usually jumped at, especially when the trip is to somewhere new and exotic.

England, might not typically be considered exotic by some but when you live on an island in the middle of the south Pacific, the green fields and cars on the wrong side of the road can only look strange.

Kayo's not sure that she's ever seen so many people as she had in the hour odd it took them to get through Heathrow. Jeff may very well have his own private jet and be a multi-billionaire, he can't do much about traffic and delays at the check-in terminal. Of course, the fact that Virgil should have decided to ride on one of the baggage trolleys didn't help much either...

There's only five of them. Gordon and Allan are back on the island with Grandma, they're too young for the trip or rather, Jeff doesn't think he could handle all of his children running amok at the same time, even with his mother as backup. So, it's just him, Scott, John, Virgil and Kayo; he's not expecting too much trouble...

"Kayo stay sat down." Jeff instructs, noticing that she's standing up in order to better see where they're driving.  
"Sorry, Mr. Tracy." She apologizes.  
"We're almost there anyhow."

They're visiting one of Jeff's friends who often takes part in business ventures with him. As far as she's understood, he's an important man, with a title of some kind, Sir Creighton-Ward apparently.

If they're good, Jeff has promised to show them London as well and that's the main reason they're excited because dad's business partners are never really entertaining, unless they're on the wrong end of one of Gordon's pranks. So they are relatively well behaved and for the moment, baggage trolleys aside, they haven't actually caused any incidents yet.

Jeff pulls up the drive towards a huge house. It dwarfs their villa. Apparently, it's called a manor, it's pretty enormous in any case and Kayo finds it hard to imagine that only one man and his wife could live in such a place. The car pulls up in front of the house, where a man is waiting to open their doors.

"Good day, Mr. Tracy. Sir Hugh has been waiting for you."  
"Thank you. Sorry, we're a little late. We got help up in traffic."

The man nods understandingly, taking note of the four children who seem completely dumbstruck by the old building. He leads them inside. It's very different from the villa, old and decorated with paintings and statues. Jeff has to keep on looking behind him to make sure that his little group are all following him and reminding them to keep up.

Sir. Hugh Creighton-Ward is waiting for them in a large room. He's sitting behind a huge antique desk. Upon seeing Jeff, his face lights up. They exchange warm greetings, whilst the kids continue to look around the room.

"These are my three eldest sons : Scott, John and Virgil." Jeff introduces them, to a chorus of slightly timid _'hellos'._ "And this is Kayo."  
"Ah, yes... I remember you saying." The man smiles warmly. "Nice to meet you young lady."  
"You too." She replies politely.

Jeff gives her a discrete smile, telling her he's proud with her progress in English. She's not fluent, not yet but she's coming along at a fair clip and can understand most of what's being said to her so long as it's spoken steadily.

It's a few more minutes of Jeff talking before Sir. Hugh, who seems to be a friendly and affable man, notices that the kids are looking a little lost.

"I tell you what, why don't you four go and play in the grounds for a bit?" He offers, turning to them. "If you ask Jameson, I'm sure he'll give you a bat and a ball."  
"Uh..." Jeff knows that ball and bat can spell trouble with these kids. "That's very nice of you Hugh but-"  
"Don't worry Jeff, they'll be fine." He assures the father.  
"Okay but you guys, the bat is only to be used on the ball, okay?"

Sir. Hugh laughs, he thinks Jeff's joking. He's obviously missed the look of genuine terror in his friend's eyes at prospect of his three sons and Kayo being let loose with a bat near so many works of art and a old building with very smashable windows. Still, he lets them go.

Ten minutes later, one of the butlers has given them a bat, a ball, a glove and some strange sticks which can't figure out what to do with. They have been positioned at a cautious distance from the house making it unlikely that any windows will be smashed.

Scott's pitching and John's having a go with the bat. Virgil and Kayo are fielders. There aren't enough of them to play a proper game of baseball but it doesn't really matter. It's never stopped them before. This time however, things aren't going so well. John – who granted isn't the best sportsman of the family – just can't hit the ball. So Virgil takes his place but doesn't have any more luck.

"The bat's funny!" The middle brother complains showing it to Scott. "It's square!"  
"What are you talking about?" Scott asked before examining it. "Hey... What's up with this?"  
"It's because it's a cricket bat!"

They jump, startled by the sound of a stranger's voice. It belongs to a young girl, Kayo guessed that she was about the same age as her. The blonde haired girl speaks with an unmistakable upper-class English accent and is wearing a pink dress whilst holding a matching parasol. The little group can't help but stare, she's not really what they're used to. They're not really used to other kids period but this girl's a little strange even for them.

"You're trying to play baseball with a cricket set." She informs them, marching over. "It's not the same game."  
"And you are?" Scott's never been one for being told he's wrong.  
"Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward." The girl straightened herself slightly. "My father owns this estate and who might you be?"  
"My name's Kayo."

Scott looks are her like she's just turned traitor, fraternizing with the enemy and all but Penelope gives her a smile and shakes her hand. Kayo just stares a little surprised. She's seen grown-ups shake hands but has never known a kid of her age to do so. Still, there's a lot she doesn't know. John and Virgil are quick to introduce themselves as well, leaving Scott with little choice but to reluctantly shake the girl's hand and give her his name.

" _Tracy_?" Her eyes widen slightly at the name. "My father mentions yours a lot. There are five of you, right?"  
"Six, Kayo's one of us." Scott puts an arm around her pulling her close, earning a little giggle from the girl.  
"Nice to meet you... Would you like me to show you how to play?" She offers, gesturing at the cricket set.

Scott just smiles as if to say; " _Yeah, I'd like to see Princess Peach here, play._ ". He hands her the bat and steps aside. Putting down here parasol, the first thing she does is lay out the sticks so that one is balancing on the others. Then, she shows them how the bat is meant to be held : facing down rather than up. Virgil offers to bowl, whilst the others watch with interest. Penelope surprises everyone with how far she sends the ball flying as she hits it with the bat.

"Do you want to have a go?" Penelope offers Kayo the bat.  
"Yes. Thank you." She takes it from her.

Kayo adopts the same stance as Penelope did. Virgil throws the ball. She swings and makes contact.  
It's truly a beautiful shot. The little leather ball flies through the air with speed and strength. The kids watch in awe, then dread when they realise where it's headed. CRASH. There's a reason Jeff made sure all of the windows on Tracy Island were made out of safety glass, unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the Creighton-Ward manor and they seem to be a window down at the moment.

"Uh oh..." Kayo uses one of the first terms she picked up from the boys.  
"Quickly with me!" Penelope commands and none of them argue.

It's amazing how quickly they can run given that they've all got rather short legs but they make it back to the mansion in record time. They knew that they were for it though, Jeff had warned them not to cause trouble. Unfortunately, trouble seemed to be a constant companion of theirs.

They run in through the main entrance almost bumping into the butler as they do so. The old man rolls his eyes, apparently used to such scenes in this old house.

"In trouble again are we Lady Penelope?" He asks knowingly.  
"There may have been a slight accident concerning one of the upstairs windows, Jameson." She tells him, in as calm a voice as she can muster. "I don't suppose you could clean it up could you? Before father finds out?"  
"Consider it done." He agrees before adding. "Might I suggest my lady that you treat our guests to some tea to avoid suspicion?"  
"Good idea. Thank you Jameson."

The butler gives her a slight smile and a nod before walking off, doubtlessly to go and deal with the broken window. Lady Penelope hurries them along before they can get caught by her father.

Jeff has heard the crash. All of his worse fears realized in less than twenty minutes. Strangely, Sir Hugh seems to be rather relaxed about the whole thing. Perhaps his daughter is less of a handful... In any case, considering his experience with young children particularly his own, the head of Tracy Industries is all too aware of the chaos which can be caused by them.

Which is why he's currently rushing down the hallway calling out for them. Because the only thing worse than hearing a crash when his kids are involved, is not being able to find them afterwards.

"Honestly Jefferson, you're over-reacting." Hugh tells him bemused by his friend's efforts.  
"You don't know em' Hugh." Jeff replies opening another door. "They look all sweet and innocent – you should see their puppy eyes, they just melt your heart – but it's all a facade! As soon as you turn your back, they're tearing the house apart."  
"I'm sure that they're just admiring the armor." The aristocrat replies.  
"You have armor?!"

Jeff doesn't even want to think about that one. He doubles his search efforts. This is such a large house and they could literally be anywhere, even in places which they really shouldn't be able to get to, such as the roof, the top of palm trees... He dreads to think what they could be up to here. He knows that his friend has many extremely valuable antiques such as vases. Vases which if broken would make a shattering sound rather a lot like the one that he just heard.

"Scott! John! Virgil! Kayo!" He calls out in desperation once more.  
"In here, Mr. Tracy." Comes the voice from the other side of a door.

They open the doors which lead into a magnificent lounge. Sitting at a table are the four missing kids along with Sir. Hugh's own daughter Penelope. They are very calmly drinking tea. Well, John, Penelope and Kayo are. Scott and Virgil seem rather reluctant and when they do take a sip, well, their faces speak for themselves.

He can't help but stare at how tranquil the scene looks and it's so very much not like them, that he can't quite believe it. Penelope looks over to them as innocent as can be.

"Is something the matter father?" She questions.  
"Nothing, darling. We just heard a crash." He replies smiling widely. "We just wanted to make sure you were okay."  
"We're quite fine." Penelope assures her father with an angel's smile. "I was just giving our friends a taste of some proper tea."  
"And what about the crash?" Jeff questions slightly dubious.  
"Sir." Jameson suddenly appears in the doorway. "I regret to inform you that a bird has flown into one of the upstairs windows and has broken it."  
"What? Another one?" Sir Hugh asks surprised. "We really must do something about these birds! They're positively suicidal."

Jeff doesn't really see the point in arguing. He knows his friend well enough to know that in his eyes, his daughter is perfect and can do no wrong but there's no denying that little flicker in the blonde girl's eyes, it's the same that inhabits his own children and Kayo. It's brilliant but also mischievous...

The kids are relieved, their little ruse seems to have worked. Unfortunately, Scott and Virgil won't be able to remove the taste of tea from their mouths for quite some time and will have to put up with being called "uncivilized" by the young Lady for a little while. John and Kayo however quite enjoy the drink and are given some free samples to take home by the kitchen staff.

Later, it's time to go. Strangely, his children are rather better behaved than usual. Penelope chats with Kayo just before she gets into the car.

"Please call." She requests. "It can get a little lonely here sometimes and I wouldn't mind someone to talk to."  
"I will." Kayo promises quite genuinely.  
"Well, you'd best be on your way then." Lady Penelope suggests seeing that they're ready to leave. "Those are quite the brothers you have."  
"They're not my-" She stops herself before opting for a term which Jeff often uses to describe his family where she's concerned. "It's complicated."  
"I'm sure it is." Penelope smiles widely. "Goodbye Kayo."  
"Goodbye Lady Penelope." Kayo steps towards the car.  
"Call me Penny!"

Kayo nods before getting in. Sir Hugh and his daughter wave to their guests as they drive off down the path.

In the backseat, the kids are chatting about the great time they just had. Jeff smiles to himself as he listens to them talk about the paintings and the size of the house and Lady Penelope's horses and this strange game called _cricket_. He's already worked out what must have happened to the window and it most definitely wasn't a bird but Sir. Hugh Creighton-Ward was having none of it.

"You guys." He eventually calls out earning their attention. "Penelope might have her father wrapped around her little finger but don't think that trick's going to work on me. Who hit the ball?"  
"I did." Kayo admits not seeing the point in lying.  
"That's quite the swing you've got there..."

There's no follow-up. No rows. No lectures.

Frankly, given the circumstances, Jeff considers an accidentally broken window to be minor damage besides, a new friend is always valuable and something – he couldn't say what, some sort of sixth sense - tells him that they'll be seeing more of Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward in the future...

 _ **/**_

 _ **For the record, I have no idea how old Lady Penelope is supposed to be in TAG. I would have said around Scott's age but then the whole Gordon thing confused me a little. Thanks for the reviews by the way.**_


	8. Stars

_**Thanks for the reviews. I'm sorry for misspelling Alan's name. I also noticed that some of the layouts and paragraphs are a bit weird, I'll see if I can fix that.**_

 _ **/**_

Night time on Tracy Island is always a quiet time. The local wildlife is comparatively silent and more often than not, all that can be heard is the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks. It's relaxing, in every sense, especially on a warm August night.

They're not normally up this late. Jeff is a firm believer in the _'early bird catches the worm'_ and would rather that the kids are up early so that they can take full advantage of the day rather than spend half of it snoozing. So it's early to bed for an early rise. Unfortunately, most of his sons have other ideas and can be pretty hellish to wake up in the morning, he's already dreading what it's going to be like when they're teenagers.

But tonight isn't just any night.

They're outside, sitting by the light of a campfire a few feet away from the house. John has set up his telescope and has it fixed on some burning sun billions of miles away. Gordon is poking the fire with a stick. Scott too has his eyes turned towards the sky but seems to be searching for something. Virgil is having a go at stringing a few strings on a guitar, someone must have told him that campfire songs were a tradition. As for Kayo, she's busy reading a book with Alan peering over her shoulder. He's too young to understand but there's a picture every few pages and that seems to be enough for him.

"What does _'fury'_ mean?" She asks, not bothering which brother answers.  
"I means being very angry." Virgil explains raising his eyes from his guitar.  
"Thank you." She replies always polite.  
"Hey Alan, do you want to come have a look through the telescope?" John offers his youngest brother.  
"Teryope!" Comes the joyful little cry.

Alan loves the stars. Kayo knows that much, it's plain to see that he's a lot like his second oldest brother in that respect. He looks up to the stars with awe, John just behind him telling him which one's which and how they make up the constellations. Alan could recite the order of the planets before he knew his alphabet and she's never asks but she bets than John could too.

Gordon turns to her, he's a little impatient and has never been any good at waiting. Granted, he isn't that old and maybe patience will be something he'll pick up later but at the moment, he's rather hyperactive at the moment. Boredom causes him to pester everyone around him.

"Hey, Kayo, what are you reading?"  
"Treasure Island." She replies glancing at the book's cover.  
"What's it about?"  
"I don't really know yet." She confesses, only at page 5. "I only just started."  
"It's about pirates and treasure and adventure!" Scott tells his little brother.

He picks up a stick and tosses one to Gordon. They start a play fight, carefully dancing around the fire. It's gentle and good natured with no force in the blows. Kayo laughs a little as she watches the two brothers' sword battle. The book was suggested to her by Grandma, anything to help her with her English and Tracy Island's library is full of books for her to read.

They're out here for some sort of meteor shower. When she pointed out that there wasn't any water out here, Mr. Tracy had taught her the meaning of the word 'meteor'. She was a little worried that they might hit the house but apparently they stay in space mostly. They've been waiting for half an hour but still nothing's there. So, maybe it's understandable than some of the boys are a little impatient with John who's promised them shooting stars.

"I can't see any." Says Scott looking to the sky.  
"You'll see them soon." John promises still looking up through the telescope.  
"What are you trying to find Johnny?" Virgil asks momentarily stopping his guitar playing.  
"A new star." He replies not taking his eyes off of the telescope. "One that nobody's ever seen before!"  
"Why?" Gordon questions pausing his his mock fight against Scott. "They're all the same anyway."  
"No they're not!" Snaps the want-to-be astronaut always defensive of his stars. "Besides, I want to name it after mom..."

There's a pause. Kayo looks up from her book. It's unlike John to make such declarations. He is very reserved and despite his young age keeps what he's thinking to himself and what he's feeling even more so, to such an extent that even his father has trouble knowing what's going through the boy's mind at times. Scott says that only their mother ever really knew what was going on with John and since she left, he's been even quieter.

So it's kind of a surprise that he's so chatty tonight and speaking so openly about their mother. It must be the stars, they tend to bring out the best in the family's only resident redhead.

"That's a wonderful idea John." Scott comes over and places a hand on his brother's shoulder, earning a small smile. "Mom would like that."  
"I'll name one after your parents too Kayo, if I can find another." He promises.  
"Thank you." She smiles softly but gratefully. "I like the stars."  
"Yeah, they are pretty neat..." John admits. "Do you want to come and have a look?"

She nods, putting her book down before coming over to the telescope. She's had a look before. Most of the Tracy family are fond of the stars, Jeff's an ex-astronaut and it would seem he's passed at least a small part of his passion onto all of his boys, even Alan who can speak more knowledgably about them than any other three year old she's ever heard of.

She's starring up into the night's sky and she has to admit that they are beautiful, twinkling and shining so brightly up there. There are so many and it's hard to believe that they're just balls of gas burning away further than anyone can ever reach. She wonders if maybe up there, her parents and Mrs. Tracy are watching over them. Maybe that's why John looks up there, hoping that his mother is there and that he might catch a glimpse of her.

"So how are our little stargazers doing?"

It's Mr. Tracy. He's coming along with grandma. He's holding a bowl of something. The boys eyes light up and even John forsakes his telescope to go and see what's going on. Kayo's curious, it takes her a moment to realize that Jeff's got a big bowl of marshmallows. Snacks this late after dinner? Not common but a welcome treat.

Laughing, the boys get some sticks and begin toasting the sugar based treats over the fire.

It's something that Kayo's seen done many times on movies or in films but she can't bring herself to get anywhere near the flames. She remembers that night and the wildfire. She remembers the pain of her burns and how it had seemed rather small compared to that of losing her parents. So she keeps her distance, avoiding looking at the flames.

Suddenly, a warm hand places itself on her shoulder. It's grandma. She takes her hand, guiding her over to the fire. Kayo's still scared but there's something about Grandma's warmth which makes her step forwards none-the-less. She's handed a stick with a marshmallow and her hand is gently guided so that she's toasting it.

"Careful, it'll be hot." Grandma warns her once it's brown.

Kayo cautiously places it in her mouth. It's a marked improvement on plain old marshmallows, although...

"Sticky..." Is all she manages to get out of her gummed up jaws.  
"It certainly is." Grandma agrees smiling knowingly. "The perfect way to shut boys up, even big ones."

Kayo laughs as she notices that Mr. Tracy and his sons seem to be having the same trouble. This stuff sticks to the teeth and pallet worse than superglue but it makes up for it by being delicious.

So they sit there, by the campfire. Jeff's got Virgil nestled in between his legs, whilst John holds Alan and Scott and Gordon sit side by side. Kayo stays next to Grandma, still requiring her presence to stop her from backing away from the flames. Grandma tells the boys stories of the strange times when she was young and how people actually used maps.

It's Alan who sees the first of the shooting stars, one of the Perseids. He lifts his finger and shouts out "meter". John raises his head and corrects his brother. In a couple of seconds, the whole family's on their feet, starring up at the shooting stars and the flames both past and present seem a little more distant.

It's strange but she doesn't really have a wish to make. Maybe... She hopes that her mother and father are happy some place and that they know that she is too.


	9. Visitors I

_**Hey Tikatu; thanks for pointing those things out. I hadn't really thought about them. So I changed a few things. I was wondering though if you could tell me how to add the TAG! word filter, please? Thanks.**_

 _ **/**_

They're standing in a row. Backs straight, tall and serious. Jeff is in full colonel mode and colonels demand discipline! Not something which is usually required on Tracy Island but today is different. The father of the household patrols in front of them, marching up and down. His expression is serious as he contemplates the little group and all the work that they have to do.

Anyone would say it's impossible but he's Jeff Tracy, former astronaut turned billionaire industrialist and father of five. He has done the impossible before. He can do anything. Especially when he has the help of the six – granted most mischievous and sometimes downright evil – but also most gifted kids he has ever heard of and maybe his mother thrown in for good measure.

"All right!" He speaks loudly and authoritatively. "You lot are without a doubt the most ramshackle, disorganized, riotous bunch of pre-teens I have ever had under my command! So listen up! This is going to be a good operation, a clean operation and you are going to do exactly what I say! Or else..." He leaves a dramatic pause before pointing in the direction of the kitchen. "It's grandma's cookies!"

He gets a bunch of half amused but also genuinely terrified screams for the children. He smiles internally, trying to keep up the colonel act which requires a face chiseled from hard stone and the ability not to even smile at even the most amusing of sights. Still, it's interesting to see that the prospect of his mother's cooking has the same effect on kids today as it did on him over 25 years ago. Which just goes to show, she's never really improved.

"So, now that you know what's at stake. Let me remind you that this is not just any three days." He starts pacing once more. "For the next three days, we have _guests_. For those of you who can't remember what those are, a guest is someone who is a visitor in this house. We treat them with respect. There are six of them coming, which means I want six of them leaving with all of their limbs still attached and not in an ambulance. Is that understood?"

Kayo and the boys can't help but giggle a little.

Jeff's taking this all very seriously. He takes a lot seriously. Apparently, the rest of the boys' family is coming, which means their grandparents on their mother's side, their uncle and aunt and their two cousins. It has to be said, none of the boys or Jeff seem too keen. This all seems to be getting in their way and up until today, they've not tried to hide the fact that they would probably rather be doing something else.

Today however, Jeff seems to have woken up to the fact that they have visitors coming and the house looks like a herd of elephants just stampeded through it.

Unimpressed by their laughing, he comes over to them, a stern look on his face.

"Laugh all you want..." Jeff straightens himself, folding his arms across his chest. "But there will not be a repeat of the Anderson incident!"  
"But _daaad_..." Gordon whines with a broad grin still plastered on his face. "We were only playing."  
"He got electrocuted!" Jeff reminds the lad.  
"No harm done." Virgil chirps in.  
"He ended up in hospital!" Jeff changes sons, lowering himself to their level.  
"He was okay in the end." Scott finishes off the brother's argument.  
"Tell that to his almost widow..." The father mutters unsure what else to say to such a bunch of kids.

Some would say that for a group of pre-teens to be able to re-wire the house's electricity in such a way was truly a feat of genius and a promise of great things to come. Jeff a little tired and jaded by his protegees stunts was more inclined to call it a sign of malicious minds destined to wreak havoc across the world. God, help everyone the day that any of them made it off of the island...

Noticing that time was passing, he went back to his colonel routine.

"Well, as I was saying... There will be no running indoors, no climbing, no jumping, no dismantling..." He begins marching once more, listing them on his fingers, when he passes ten, he just starts once more. "No abseiling, no hanging from the ceiling fans, no experimenting on household appliances or on our guests, no pranks – I'm looking at you Gordon!"  
"D'aw..." The boy lets out a truly crushed sigh.  
"No blowing up, no destroying, no dismemberment, no killing, torturing or otherwise maiming, no exploring the air vents, no spear throwing – Ain't that right Kayo?"  
"Okay, Mr. Tracy..." She mutters blushing slightly with embarrassment.  
"No indoor surfing, no refrigerating of anything other than food, no skydiving, no smashing, no electrocuting, no _'accidents'_..."  
"No fun basically." Scott sums up.  
"Yes." Jeff replies bluntly. "For once in your lives, you will be well-behaved, well brought up little kids, who read books, watch TV, play video games - I don't know! The sort that your grandparents want to see!"

It has been a while since the boys had last saw their grandparents on their mother's side. Not since her funeral as far as Kayo can tell. She's not too sure but they seem to have pretty much invited themselves round.

Tracy Island needs a clean and Jeff wants to make the impression that he's both in control and a good father. It's not to say that he's a bad one but some of the things that the kids supposedly under his authority get up to are probably not considered safe by most people. So, ideally, he's hoping for a nice few days where they behave properly and show both their grandparents and other family members a nice time and how smart they are.

"Okay. So, here's the plan." Jeff tells them, finally stopping his pacing. "Okay. Scott, Virgil and Gordon, you're with me, we've got to clean this place up and there's quite a bit of work to do! Kayo and John, I want you two to reconquer the kitchen from Grandma, our stomachs might be made of iron from all of her cooking but our guests sure aren't and as for you Alan, you midget mayhem making monstrosity, I want you to distract your Grandma any way you want so long as it doesn't create more mess!"

The little boy smiles an evil grin which already speaks of diabolical deeds to come. Jeff almost calls him off, Kayo can distract grandma but then he remembers that her cooking also comes from the depths of Hell itself and it takes a monster to battle monsters.

Alan darts off. They wait a few minutes and then, there's an alarmed cry from the kitchen belonging to grandma. The next thing they see is her chasing after Alan who's stolen her glasses. Good distraction now, she and John can get to work.

First thing's first, they check out just what she had been trying to prepare. The smell alone is pretty off-putting. John examines it kneeling on a chair so as to be able to see. He can't quite tell what it is but half of it's burnt to the pot already. He lets out a sigh, turning to his companion.

"Dad says we shouldn't waste food but-" He tips the contents of the pot down the sink. "-I don't think we can salvage this."  
"Smells bad..." Kayo wrinkles her nose. "Dogs wouldn't eat that!"

The first few meals that Kayo had from Grandma made her sick. Unlike the boys – both child and grandchildren – she tried to be polite and eat it all. It was only when she was lying on the couch, unable to move with what felt like half a ton of bricks in her stomach that a concerned Mr. Tracy had assured her that it was _"okay, to accidentally spill the contents of her plate"_ , he'd make her some toast or something afterwards.

So now, she too has become something of an expert in _Grandma's cooking dodging_. Climbing up onto the work surface, Kayo makes her way over to the cooking books which ordinarily are stacked out of her reach. They have cooking books but Grandma can't ever use them or if she does, she can't be able to read!

John inspects the fridge, seeing what they have to make diner. They end up choosing Chicken Kiev. Despite his age, John is surprisingly good at cooking and knows how to work the various parts of the cooking appliances. She's not too sure how any of them work but she does roughly know which buttons to press. Mr. Tracy made sure when having his villa built that all the cooking equipment was state of the art, his logic being that it would limit the potential damage his mother could do to any meals she prepared. It's hard for Kayo to tell if the investment paid off as she was never exposed to any of Grandma's cooking outside of that done on the island; if it has though, she's not too sure how Jeff and his sons survived before.

She reads out the recipe from the book whilst John gets the ingredients from various parts of the kitchen. It's a tricky enough business to feed eight of them on an regular day, so fourteen is always going to be a challenge. Which is probably why the cupboards are stocked with cereal at the moment because having to prepare breakfast as well is something which none of them can face.

Their lucky as the cooking appliances somehow manage to pretty much cook the food themselves once it's prepared (which begs the question of just how Grandma manages to burn so much of it). Automated knives save them the hassle of having to cut up the veg themselves and the meal's preparations go relatively smoothly.

"Done!" Kayo declares placing the last dish in what can best be described as a giant microwave.  
"I wonder how dad and the others are doing?" John asks looking for them.  
"I think they're getting out the sleeping bags." Kayo replied.

As they have guests staying, it's been decided that the simplest solution to the shortage of sleeping space would be to have some of the boys share rooms. The arrangement is still a little confusing to her but as far as she can understand John and Scott are sharing with Alan and Virgil's going to be sleeping in Gordon's room. There's another guest room, so that's the boy's grandparents can sleep there. Jeff's going to sleep in Virgil's room and leave his larger bed to his sister-in-law and her husband and the two cousins will have both Alan's and Gordon's rooms.

Despite the fact that their guests have now been rescued from a night of indigestion (if they were lucky), Alan still hasn't seen it fit to return his grandmother's glasses and it takes both John to be able to calm him down long enough to get them back. Once she's able to see again, the aging woman comes back to her cooking only to see that it's been magically transformed and for some reason, there's no meatloaf involved... She casts a suspicious glance to both John and Kayo who have begun to help Jeff once more but decides not to act, after all, whatever it is sounds good.

Later that evening, she's in her room.

Kayo has never really been one for dresses. Her parents tried to get her to wear them once or twice in the past but they tend to get in the way of climbing trees and she would almost inevitably end up ripping them. So, she's always been more of a t-shirt and trousers girl. Tonight however, she's wearing a light purple one because it's a _"special occasion"_ and apparently she's got to dress up. So do the boys, they're also changing in their rooms.

There's a dock behind her. It's grandma, armed with a hair brush. Kayo shudders at the sight.

"Don't worry..." The woman laughs amused. "I just thought you might like your hair done up, rather than looking like the Wicked Witch of the West."  
"Huh?" Kayo frowns a little confused.  
"Oh, she's a character from the Wizard of Oz." Grandma informs her, sitting down next to her on the foot of bed. "With very unruly hair..."  
"Like me?" It's half a question, half a statement.  
"No. Not really." Grandma begins running a brush through her long hair. "You have very nice hair, Kayo. It's just that you don't ever bother to brush it."  
"What's the point if it gets messy again?" Kayo argues back.  
"And I hoped that you talking to Penny would put an end to nonsense like this..." Grandma let out in a defeated sigh. "You're right, it does get messy again but at least you look pretty whilst it's done up!"  
"What's the point in looking pretty?" She questions.

Grandma lets out a frustrated but vaguely amused sigh as she continues to bring the last of the girl's stray hairs under control. She had hoped in some odd way that Kayo would be more of – well, a girl but apparently things like fashion, clothes, dolls... They don't really interest her. Instead, she'd rather run through the woods with the boys like a wild thing. A small smile graces the aging woman's lips, well it's endearing in an odd way and she wouldn't want the girl to be anything other than what she wanted to.

Although, she's not about to leave this argument alone quite yet :

"You know Kayo, one day you will care."  
"Will not!" Kayo declares stubbornly but with a smile, telling her that it's all in good nature.  
"Oh, you'll see..." Grandma warns her. "One day, you'll meet a handsome young man and then you really will care what you look like."  
"When?" The girl honestly looks a little terrified at the prospect.  
"Oh, not for a while yet..." She assures the child. "When you're a lady."  
"Like Penelope?" Kayo looks puzzled.  
"No, I meant when you're grown up a little."  
"I won't care!" The girl suddenly declares almost standing up before being gently pushed back down by Grandma. "He'll like me with or without messy hair! Or else I won't like him!"

Grandma smiles knowingly. She truly hopes that the girl never changes and stays the way that she is right now. Still, tonight, messy hair isn't an option, not when they have guests to impress. Her hair is brushed back so that it hangs down her back. Kayo looks up at her, wanting to know if it's all over and done with. Grandma lets her get up but prevents her from running away, instead, guiding her over to a mirror.

"There. Don't you think you look pretty?"

Kayo doesn't answer, starring back at herself in the reflective surface. She blinks a couple of times. Grandma Tracy smiles softly. Suddenly, Jeff's outside the door.

"Mother! Kayo!" He calls out. "Our guests have arrived!"  
"Come on you!" Grandma places a hand on the girl's shoulder. "We'd best go greet our guests."

Kayo follows, suddenly a little uncertain. This promises to be interesting but she can't help a feeling of unease as she leaves her room with Grandma to go and say hello to their visitors...


	10. Visitors II

_**Tikatu : I tried to change the word filter but for some reason it wouldn't let me. It registered the change but then didn't apply it. Thanks for the help anyway.**_

 _ **/**_

New York was a fair way away from their little island. Kayo knows that much. It must have taken them a good few hours.

She watches from one of the windows as the jet lands on Tracy Island runway. Jeff hired them a plane – just one of the perks of being a billionaire. It takes a few moments for it's five passengers to emerge.

She narrows her eyes trying to make them out a little more clearly. The boys' grandparents look a little older than grandma Tracy but not much. She can't quite make out their aunt and uncle. The cousins also look older than any of the boys. Hm... She's reserving her judgement until she meets them face to face.

Jeff's standing in front of them, making sure that they don't rush out onto the tarmac and end up under the wheels of a plane. He waits until it's fully at a stop finally opening the door allowing the five boys to rush out. As always, Gordon and Alan are leading the charge, Virgil and Scott aren't far behind and John who's a lot more reserved preferring to walk along side Jeff. Kayo is hanging right back, she doesn't know these people and is naturally cautious, so she remains with Grandma.

"It's not like you to be shy..." She tells her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

She's a little worried about what they're going to make of her. She's not a Tracy. She lives here but she's not a member of their family, not by blood at least and whilst that doesn't seem to be an issue for Jeff or his sons, she's a bit afraid about how these strangers will react to her being there.

The boys have skidded to a halt in front of their grandparents and aunt who are cooing over them, commenting on how much they've grown, how Alan looks like his mother... The rest of the family is looking around trying to take in their surroundings. Kayo hides slightly behind Grandma, peering at the strangers still a little unsure.

At least she knows where John got his ginger hair from. Mrs. Tracy's sister and niece are both red heads. The oldest of the two cousins is a girl probably about 14 years old, the boy is probably about Scott's age.

"Look at you!" Lucy's sister coos ruffling Gordon's hair. "You've grown so much!"  
"So, you live here then?" Her husband looks around the island.  
"Yep! Just us!" Virgil declares joyfully. "We have the whole island all to ourselves!"  
"Tracy Island, eh?" Their grandmother mutters.  
"Well, not just..." Scott cuts in looking around. "Hey, where's Kayo?"

The boys look around a little surprised. Grandma gently pushes her forwards from where she had been sheltering. She takes a couple of steps. She looks at the slightly confused members of Mrs. Tracy's family, blinking a couple of times, she lowers her gaze finding the floor rather interesting all of a sudden.

"My name's Kayo..." She speaks a little quietly.  
"My now, a little timid today are we?" Jeff asks her in a reassuring voice, she nods looking down at her feet. "Kayo lives here with us."  
"Kayo!" Alan chimes as if to enforce the statement.

She managed a little smile for the youngest of the brothers. She's being stared at and she doesn't like it much. She shelters behind Jeff. She's not used to being intimidated by people but today, for once, she finds herself rather quiet and wishing that she could go and hide some place. Maybe it's the dress...

"Well, it's very nice to meet you." Speaks the boys' grandfather.  
"You too..." She managed to get out.  
"Why don't you kids show your cousins to their rooms?" Jeff suggests.

The boys nod and rush off. Kayo hesitates before going with them. Jeff encourages his guests to go on ahead to the main livingroom whilst he, the pilot and Grandma deal with their suitcases. There's surprisingly a lot for only three days. The pilot informs them that as far as she can tell, they've packed as if they were visiting the Amazonian Rain forest, fortunately the Island's not quite that wild.

Ruth takes a moment to speak to her son.

"You didn't tell them about her, did you?" Grandma raises a knowing eyebrow.  
"Well, considering that they weren't exactly keen on me taking the boys out here in the first place..." Jeff mutters as a reply. "God knows what they'd say if they knew I'd taken in Kayo, three months later."

Kayo is a little more confident when it comes to showing them around the house, maybe it's because the kids are a little closer to her in age. They're strange though. At least she finds it, one of them has already taken a ' _selfie_ ' which he plans on sharing on ' _social media_ '. They seem awfully eager to know where the electric sockets are. Still, overall they seem happy with their accommodations and they should, their rooms have pretty good views.

The suitcases are carried in and their visitors begin settling in. Kayo can tell that the atmosphere is a little... _Off_. It's not hostile but she gets the distinct feeling that not everything is happy reunions.

"So when was the last time that you visited the mainland?" Their grandma asks them.  
"We went a few months ago..." Scott recalls his trip to England. "We visited Lady Penelope."  
"So, you don't go to school?"  
"We're home-schooled." John replies picking up Alan before he can knock over a small table.  
"And very smart the lot of you." Jeff replies ruffling John's hair.  
"But you don't see any other kids your age?"  
"Kayo talks to Penelope, don't you?" Grandma asks her.  
"Penny's nice."

Since meeting her, Kayo quite often phones the young Lady or vice-versa. It's good for her to practice her English and she quite enjoys the chance to chat.

The rest of the evening passes fairly normally. The boys and Kayo behave. They do as Jeff suggested, show off their own unique talents and are incredibly polite. They play the role of model children and maybe they are.

It's a relief when the kids see the dinner that John and Kayo prepared for them. The credit automatically goes to Grandma Tracy, as Jeff said he wasn't responsible for the night's meal. The kids don't bother to correct them. Jeff had stressed the necessity for everything to seem _normal_ and apparently routinely defying death with Grandma's cooking didn't fit into that.

"Delicious!" Lucille's sister declares with a beaming smile. "You're a brilliant chef Mrs. Tracy."

Now there's a series of words which just sound unbelievable and downright wrong together!

Still, they don't bother correcting her. The conversation goes back and forth simply. Kayo listens as best she can, understanding most of what is being said. Her English has come on a fair bit but she still can't quite keep up with fast discussion. Well, it's more that she's still translating English into Malay and the time it takes her to do that, the conversation has moved on.

They don't seem that interested in her anyway. She can understand why. This is something for their family and for the first time ever on Tracy Island, she feels like an intruder. They are Tracys and she is a Kyrano. So she stays quiet and eats her food, trying to pick up new words of English.

There's a point when Mr. Tracy looks almost angry, the first time she's ever really seen it. She can't quite understand what's been said. The boy's grandma asked him if he's coping better now. The anger vanishes almost instantly from his face however, replaced by a slightly blank look.

"Yes. Fine."

Usually, she thinks things through. She can read people well enough to know when not to bother them. Tonight however, she's not too sure if it's because she's a little put off by the sheer amount of strangers or if she's just a little sleepier than usual but she turns to Jeff and says :

"I don't understand."  
"Nothing to understand Kayo!"

He snaps at her. His voice unusually cold and cutting. She shrinks away, a little surprised. Grandma casts him a glare. His eyes widen as if he's just been caught off guard. There's a couple moment's silence, then Virgil, who must have sensed something was a little off decides to show his aunt, who's into art some of his drawings.

The rest of the evening passes without incident but she remains silent not wanting to risk angering Jeff further.

It's a little later, bedtime, there's a knock on her door. Their guests have decided to turn in a little earlier than they normally would, after all, the trip has taken a lot out of them. She's sleepy herself and about ready to turn in. There's a knock at her door. It must be Grandma, she calls out that it's okay to come in.

It's Jeff. She frowns, a little surprised and assuming that she's going to get a row for earlier.

"I'm sorry Kayo." She apologizes sadly. "I didn't mean to snap at you earlier."  
"It's okay." She replies quietly.  
"No. No, it's not..." He shook his head negatively. "I shouldn't have lost my temper like that."  
"Why did you?" She asks curiosity gaining the upper hand over caution.

Jeff lets out a heavy sigh and sits down in a chair.

He looks tired suddenly like all of his strength has just been sapped out of him. Sad also, strangely sad... She regrets asking all of a sudden. She can't understand why he got angry over dinner but every mention of it seems to upset him one way or another. He runs a hand through his hair before finally looking back.

"When my wife, Lucy died, I was really sad..." She knows he's simplifying things but doesn't really mind. "Like you were, when you lost your parents."

Jeff has NEVER mentioned his wife before. Not to her, not to any of his sons, at least not that she's heard. There's a photo of her one Jeff's desk where she got a brief glimpse of the woman : blonde, brown eyes like Gordon, a face like Alan... She had gathered over dinner that her name was Lucille – Lucy must be the abbreviation but never before has Jeff spoken about her. For that matter, he very rarely brings up her parents either other than to ask her how she's coping.

So, she realizes that whatever's on his mind, it must be something that hurts him.

"Anyway... I was really sad and well, I used to drink a fair bit and I got kind of grumpy..." He pauses for a moment letting out a sigh. "Grandma and the boys grandparents had to step in to look after them. They uh... Weren't too happy when I brought the boys to the Island."  
"Why not?" Kayo tilts her head to one side slightly.  
"Because I did some stupid stuff, Kayo..." He speaks quietly. "You'll understand one day. Read in between the lines and all... Basically, Lucy's parents didn't think that I was able to look after the boys alone when I brought them here."

He looks over to her. She nods telling him that she understands what he's telling her. It explains some of the things that have been puzzling her tonight.

Jeff still seems sad. He's fixing the wall blankly, probably lost in his thoughts. It's not the first time she's seen him like this : sometimes, if he doesn't think anyone was looking at him, he'll look out the window, towards the sky or the ocean or he'll stare at the photo of his wife on his desk.

"You're a good dad, Mr. Tracy." She tells him, unsure what else to say.  
"Thank you Kayo." He smiles whilst sadness still occupies his eyes. "I think you'd have liked Lucy and I just know she'd have loved you."

Kayo just smiles back. It will be a long time before she understands everything that Mr. Tracy told her and before she fully reads between the lines.

They chat for a few moments. Jeff thanks her for cooking and being well behaved. He mentions that Christmas is coming up and asks her just what she would like. She doesn't know. This place is so huge, she finds it hard to think of anything else she would want. They have a pool, a forest, a beach, she has five brilliant playmates...

"Well, have a think about it." Jeff requests before checking his watch. "That late already! You should be in bed!"

Kayo doesn't complain too much. Wishing him goodnight and cuddling her tiger close to her before falling asleep rather quickly.

Their guests enjoy their stay as far as Kayo can tell. Although the life of isolation of a south Pacific Island might not be best suited for everyone. By the third day, the novelty of the pool and beach seem to be wearing a little thin and contact with the outside world is obviously something which the teens miss quite dearly. So when it's time to say goodbye, it's not all sorrow.

Kayo's there with the boys, waving them off. They promise to visit again in the future. Visitors are a rarity for Tracy Island, they always make an effort to accommodate them and enjoy some different company but the Island never seems quite right when they're around. This is their home and anyone else on it seems like something of an intrusion.

So the plane's barely taken off before Jeff's regretting the fact that he didn't make the rules and regulations in case of guests permanent, as he watches the Island's disproportionate number of resident children do what they do best : cause mayhem, in as cute a way as possible.


	11. Christmas

"Mother! You're holding the camera upside down!"  
"Oh! There we are!"

Grandma Tracy cautiously turns the camera around, so that her son and grandchildren are no longer upside down and standing on the ceiling. She checks it this time, making sure it's good and in focus. There they are six kids and as she sees it, one big one. Today is unusual, it's early in the morning yet all of the boys are up and wide awake, albeit in pajamas.

"Aren't I supposed to say something?" Grandma asks them.  
"Well, how about just what day it is?" Jeff suggests, it what he usually does.  
"Right then, so it's Christmas, in case you hadn't already guessed with that brilliant outfit my son- I mean Santa has on."

There are some laughs as Gordon tugs on Jeff's false beard once more. The father laughs tickling his second youngest son who laughs hysterically, the boy has always been hyper sensitive to these sorts of things. It was quite the surprise this morning when they awoke to find a man clad entirely in red with a bushy white beard. Jeff was quickly forced to remove his disguise however as it scarred the living daylights out of Alan, who screamed the house down.

He was a little happier now that he knew it was still the same dad underneath the beard and Santa disguise. The good news was that the surprise had worked a little better with his other sons and Kayo.

A few weeks ago, they had decorated the entirety of the house in Christmas decorations and had even brought in a tree, not that it was faring too well in the hot climate of the Island. Christmas wasn't something that she was used to, her parents were Hindus and although they had told her about the Christian celebration, she'd never witnessed it first hand before. She likes it though, it's - Jeff taught her a new word to describe it – _merry_.

Of course, they're young so the presents under the tree are also awfully interesting.

"Do you think, we should keep them waiting any longer Jeff?" Grandma asks, teasing the children.  
"I don't know, what do you think?" He asks Virgil.

Virgil pushes his father gently, earning a laugh. He allows the kids to go ahead and open the presents. Grandma captures every moment and delighted face on camera. There are presents for them too. Virgil had managed to rope together his brothers and Kayo to make them a little something, it's not much, two cards and a joint effort painting but it's the thought that counts as they say and both Grandma and Jeff are very touched.

An hour later, they're thinking that maybe they could have given them less dangerous toys.

Scott's model airplane was NOT meant to be used indoors. Gordon is so impatient to use his snorkel that he's occupied one of the bathrooms upstairs and won't leave the bath. Virgil's probably the least bothersome with his soft piano playing of new songs. John's rocket has already shot up and broken one of the lights and as for Kayo, well, she's never used roller skates before and just can't manage to stay standing up.

"Told you we should have got her knee pads." Grandma mutters noticing the girl's grazed knees from the concrete around the pool.  
"It's okay..." Kayo replies picking herself back up, before trying again and almost face planting once more.  
" _Stubborn_ doesn't quite describe this one..." Mrs. Tracy tells her son. "There won't be any skin left on her hands and knees at this rate!"  
"But if I don't try..." Kayo argues back struggling to pick herself up. "I won't ever learn!"  
"That's the spirit." Jeff just smiles giving her a helping hand up.

It takes a few moments, some of her blood, Grandma to go fetch some antiseptic and a few band-aids but eventually, she's skating round without too much trouble. Keeping her balance and rather enjoying the feeling. The smile and laugh make it worth it though, as she cautiously skates around the pool where Gordon has decided would make a better test area than the bath for his snorkel and flippers.

Grandma's heads back to get the rest of the day on video. She films the thermometer, then rather unsurprisingly the rest of the family in the pool.

"Christmas day and it's almost too hot to be out in the sun..." He muses filming the family splashing in the cool waters.

Gordon's not the only one who enjoys the pool, although he's by far the one who loves it the most. All of the boys are in it, so's Kayo, they're keeping an eye on Alan who's only just learned how to paddle and is still wearing arm bands. Splashing there, jumping in, having breath holding contests... There's a thousand ways to have fun in it's cool waters and even on Christmas day, it's the best place to be on the island.

They spend a good hour and a half playing before Jeff has to go and prepare the meal, because there's no way he's letting his mother deal with this one! So the kids are left under the attentive gaze of their grandmother to play. They splash around for a while longer before eventually coming out, except for Gordon, he's pretty much impossible to get out of the pool. If left to himself, he'd probably live in the thing, or the sea, either one...

Grandma leaves for a moment to see if Jeff needs any help. Leaving the kids contemplating the sea.

"I like Christmas." Kayo tells them, as they dry off in the warm sun.  
"It's better when there's snow." Virgil declares looking up at the cloudless sky.  
"I've never seen snow." She confesses looking at her feet. "We didn't have any back in Malaysia, at least not where I was."  
"Well, it's cold and powdery." Scott explains, wondering how best to describe the substance. "Walking in it's kinda like walking in flour I guess. Am I making any sense?"

She blinks a couple of times, trying to imagine what it was like. She's never really walked in flour before. She hesitates for a few moments before shaking her head uncertainly. Scott lets out a sigh. He always tries his best that one, no matter what's needed, he'll give himself 110%. Gordon's joined them now, a strange smile on his face.

"I've got an idea..." He declares.

Alarm bells. A smile like that on Gordon's face is never a good sign but none of them have enough time to stop him before he's disappeared. He's not gone for long and when he returns, he's got a sack with him. Kayo and the others stare at it for a few moments, unsure what he's playing at.

The next thing she knows, she's covered in white powder. A little surprised, she coughs for a moment, before looking at him with wide eyes.

"Since there's no snow..." Gordon explains his reasoning. "I thought we could use flour!"  
"What for?" Kayo questions, brushing herself down.  
"Instead of snowballs, dummy!" Gordon replies tossing some at Virgil.

It takes a few seconds for them to react but before long, they've stolen the bag from the second youngest brother and white powder is being tossed around all over the place. When, Grandma emerges from the house, she's faced with six kids covered from head to foot in flour, as well as half of the patio.

"Oh for the love of-" She stops herself, shaking her head. "We can't leave you kids alone for five minutes, can we?- I can't even tell you boys apart!"  
"Snow!" Alan shouts out, as only a 3 year old can.

Grandma rolls her eyes sending the little group off to clean themselves up. They pass Jeff as they go, he barely even raises an eyebrow. Such sights aren't rare and so long as there's no blood, it's probably not something that he should worry himself with.

They put on clean clothes for dinner. Turkey, roast potatoes and Christmas pudding, yes, Kayo quite likes this particular holiday. Over dinner, they laugh and chat. She suffers from the same problem as Alan and Gordon, in that the paper hat from her cracker is far too big and keeps on falling down and covering her eyes, some tape quickly solves the problem.

It's 10.24 p.m when Grandma picks up the camera, the right way up this time. The tv is still on and the end credits to an old movie are just finishing. Fast asleep are the entirety of her family, from Jeff to Alan and Kayo, they're curled up on the couch and snoring.

"My recipe for an instant knock out : Christmas Day; full of fun and games, a belly full of turkey and movies. For the record..." She informs those who'll be watching the video in the future. "I've already taken a photo."

The photos will be printed the day after. Kayo will keep hers preciously. _It's just a shame that Christmas is only once a year_ ; she thinks.


	12. Separated

Scott had come to an interesting conclusion :

"You sound English."  
"What?"

It's been a few years and she's grown. At eleven years old, she no longer needs to have an English tutor and is pretty much fluent in the language. There's just one thing that puzzles her adoptive family, that is to say seven Americans :

"You sound British." Scott specifies.  
"Penny said so too." Kayo remembers glancing up from her lessons. "I can't help it."  
"I'm not saying it's a bad thing." The eldest of the brothers laughs as a reply. "It's just funny, that's all. I mean, we're all American, you live with us, it's kind of weird that you don't talk like us."  
"Well, I can't be perfect." She offers him a slightly mocking smile.

She doesn't have an answer. She guesses that it's because her tutor always spoke with a pronounced British accent and then she spends a fair amount of time talking to Lady Penelope and it's hard to get more British than her.

They're supposed to be studying. Technically they are, it's just that every few pages, they'll start up a conversation. Usually, Jeff or his mother will interrupt them and tell them to get back to their studying but today, they seem to be a little more easy going than usual... Concerning.

There were routines on this island and anything that differed from them usually meant that something was up. Today though, for once, they weren't going to investigate. There was never much of an incentive to see just where the adults were when they should be giving them a row.

Kayo peers up from her book, the history of Europe. So complicated, so long and so many wars. She's just about old enough to remember some of the details of the global conflict along with John and Scott. Her memories are vague but she remembers people being afraid, a city near where they had lived had been flattened...

"I like your voice." Alan declares in all of his five year old innocence.  
"Thanks Alan." Kayo gives him a smile.

John gives her a slightly annoyed glance telling her to stop interrupting his little brother's lessons and get back to her own. She lowers her head back to her book. Not necessarily because of the second oldest son but rather because of the approaching footsteps belonging to both Jeff and his mother.

They come into the room to find all six kids deep in their studies. Just how often this ploy actually works remains to be seen, neither of them are fools and they know the kids too well to be fooled by their little tricks.

Nothing is said however, which causes the kids to look up. Instantly, they snap to attention. Jeff and Grandma have their serious : _we need to tell you something_ , faces on. The last time this happened, it was to tell them that Jeff would be leaving for the best part of a month on a business trip. It had been the quietest period in Tracy Island's history and nobody had been sad to see the back of it.

"Kids pay attention. I've got something to say." Jeff tells them.

He doesn't need to say it twice. Books are closed, they sit up properly on the couch and give the father their undivided attention. John puts an arm around Alan preparing for the worst. These sorts of discussions are never about nothing and always have repercussions.

Jeff sits down, whilst Grandma chooses to stay standing. He lets out a sigh and runs a hand through his hair. Then he looks up, as serious as can be.

"When was the last time you kids spent any time with kids of your age?" He asks them.  
"Well, we're always with each other..." Virgil replies looking to his brothers and Kayo with a little unease.  
"I mean asides each other." Jeff clarifies.  
"Well, uh..." Gordon hesitates unsure.  
"We don't really get out that much dad." Scott finally answers.

Jeff lets out a sigh informing them that he had known the answer all too well and had just wanted to hear it from their own mouths.

This sounds awfully a lot like a discussion that they had overheard (spied on) Jeff having with the boys grandparents. Something about them needing to see more kids their own age, something which obviously wasn't all that possible with them living on the island. At the time, it had only seemed to annoy the ex-astronaut but now, well, Kayo didn't really like the way that this discussion had started.

"There's no easy way to say this and certainly no way that you're going to like-" Jeff declares. "So, I'm just going to come clean about the whole business. I know that you love your lives here and believe me, I love having you here but- This can't go on, in the long term, it's not very good for you."

Kayo understands the words but she doesn't quite grasp their meaning or what he's implying. She exchanges uncertain glances with the boys, they don't get it any more than she does.

How can life here possibly be bad for them? They're free, they're fed, they have each other... This place is paradise and they are fortunate to have it, Jeff once said so himself, now he seems to be contradicting that very statement.

Seeing the confusion on the kids faces, the father stands up and paces a little, running a hand through his hair. Letting out a sigh, he eventually continues :

"You need to interact with other kids your age, meet new people..." He looks back, nope, they're still just as confused. "I'm sending you to school."  
"What?"  
"No!"  
"Dad, you can't do that!"  
"Mr. Tracy, we've never been to school before."

He raises a hand, silencing the wave of questions and outrage coming from the group of kids who haven't set foot in a school in many years. Jeff had always had them home schooled, for the boys since they came her and the same for Kayo, the last school she attended was way back in Malaysia and becoming an increasingly distant memory.

"It would only be for high school." Jeff informs them. "Scott! You ought to be in 9th grade!"  
"But dad, I like it here..." Scott states. "I've got my brothers, Kayo... Dad, I don't want to go."  
"Scott..." Jeff's voice softens. "Listen son, I know it's hard to understand but you're almost 14, pretty soon, you're going to want to get out and see the world. You can't do that here and I don't want you to grow up, not knowing what it's like out there. You need to be ready for the outside world."

Scott's still not convinced, so Jeff takes him aside to his office to speak with him in private, leaving Kayo and his other sons to chat about this sudden development. Chatting quickly changes to panicking. One of them, leaving? It seems impossible to imagine... They've always been together – well, more or less, she's a more recent addition to the family but the point still stands. Now, one of them might be spirited away to that mysterious place beyond the sea.

Kayo doesn't like it. Not one bit. She hasn't had much interaction with the outside world since coming here but she remembers that it's not always a nice place. She's seen it on TV, there's bad stuff out there. This place is safe, it's home, it's where their family is... They can't leave it.

Scott comes out of the office half an hour later, his head hanging low. With a sorrowful looking Jeff behind him :

"-if it's not working out after a few weeks Scott, I promise you can come home and continue your lessons."

He doesn't respond. Quiet and solemn looking, she imagines that were he another person, he might be crying right now but she has never seen Scott cry. He doesn't. He'll put on a brave face for all of them and pretend that everything's fine. It's a role he's got down to perfection and one that he's been playing since he lost his mother.

It's three weeks till school starts.

It must be weighing on his mind but again, it doesn't show. He plays with them, just as he always has : laughs, jokes and even continues his home schooling with his brothers and Kayo.

The day before he leaves, he's playing with them by the pool. He gives Kayo a piggyback, tosses Alan in the water, tickles Gordon, manages to drag John into the games and lets Virgil fly his plane he got a few years ago at Christmas. It's as if he's about to make up for the time he's going to be away and when he won't be with them.

That evening, Jeff made pizza and apple pie, Scott's favorites. They eat normally but without the normal joy that they would take in such a meal. It's quiet too, nobody says much : Grandma tries to get a conversation going but nothing much ever really comes from it and all she gets are short replies.

So when the kids ask to go outside and look up at the stars, despite the late hour, Jeff can't really bring himself to say _no_. He doesn't want to separate the family and this decision is one of the hardest and most painful that he has ever made but the basic fact is Scott can't live his entire life here, none of them can.

He watches from afar as the group stargaze. Looking up at the balls of gas burning miles away. They'll be the same in California, where they're going but separated, they'll feel a lot lonelier.

"I'll call." Scott promises before boarding the plane. "All of you. Every day!"

Alan's crying in John's arms and Virgil's gone all watery eyed. Gordon hasn't stopped going on about _"it's not fair"_. Even John, usually hard to read and distant, looks decidedly unhappy and put off. For her part, Kayo can't bring herself to raise her gaze to meet his.

She likes Scott and always has. He is the big brother that she never had. From day one, he has been there for her. They all have but there's something about the lad which is just impossible not to like. He's someone you can trust with pretty much anything and is always there for you but now, suddenly, he won't be. He'll be thousands of miles away in a distant US state.

He gives them all hugs, tells them to behave but secretly whispers in their ears to keep up the mischief.

Then, he's on the plane sitting next to Jeff as they take off. A few minutes later, they're nothing more than a dot on the horizon.

Scott won't come back from high school after a few weeks. He's lonely there for a little while but after a few weeks, he starts to settle in and make friends. It's different, he tells them during his almost daily calls, different but enjoyable.

Kayo looks out to sea and thinks about him. She'll be there one day and with one of them out there already, the outside world suddenly seems a little closer.


	13. Soup

_**Just a short chapter. Thanks again for all the reviews.**_

 _ **/**_

Sometimes, Kayo is reminded of the downsides of living on an island and never mingling with crowds.

One such inconvenient is that over time, their immune systems weaken. There's no bugs here with just the eight of them. Or at least, not usually and it's been years since Kayo was last ill – excluding Grandma's cooking that is.

Until yesterday.

It started with just the sniffles. Grandma pointed out that she was getting through quite a few tissues. Then, she was sneezing and by the evening, everyone was wondering just how such a comparatively small person with an average sized nose could possibly produce so much snot. She's sent to bed early and the next morning, well, the bug's in full swing.

It's unpleasant more than anything else. Her nose is completely blocked one hour and she can't stop sneezing the next. Add to that a little cough and feeling overall rather poorly and you have a bedridden Kayo.

The possible suspects from bringing in the virus are Jeff but it's probably more likely to be either Scott or John, who have just come back from high school.

So, she's lying there in her bed. Suffering from a sneezing fit and generally feeling sorry for herself. It's not just her though, from what she's heard, Alan's nose is a little runny now and he's showing some of the first signs of going down with the bug.

There's a knock on her door. She calls out a little hoarsely for whoever it is to come in. She's a little surprised to see Virgil standing there, struggling to balance a bowl and a mug on a tray whilst opening the door, he pulls it off however and enters her room.

"Hiya Kayo, I was wondering if you wanted some lunch?"  
"What is it?" She questioned, her appetite's a little off and the moment and she really doesn't want any of Grandma's cooking.  
"Some chicken soup." Virgil informs her taking a few steps closer. "I used mom's recipe."

This sparks her interest. Virgil just smiles and puts the tray down on the table next to Kayo. Although her nose is almost completely blocked, somehow, the smell from the soup manages to fight it's way through and she's got to admit, it's smells pretty darn good. There's a mug too, filled with her favorite herbal tea.

She can't help but think that the middle brother is something of an angel when it comes to things like this.

"Thank you Virgil." She manages, sitting up a little straighter. "Aren't you afraid you'll get sick too?"  
"Nah... Gran's going down with it to." Virgil hands her the tray. "So, I'm pretty sure if I'm going to get sick then it'll happen no matter what I do."

She smiles and using her spoon takes a sip of some of the soup. It's warm and feels good going down her throat. For a moment, it even clears out her synapses and vanquishes the bug. She tries to think back to the last time she was sick, her mother used to make her some nice Gulai for her which had a similar effect. It's a few seconds but it's a welcome relief.

She comes to the conclusion that somewhere out there is a miracle factory for recipes to raise the spirits of the unhappy or the ill. She just wishes she could find it.

"This is really nice."  
"Mom would make it for me and my brothers when we were kids..." Virgil remembers with a distant smile. "Makes you feel warm inside, right?"

She nods. Virgil keeps her company for a little while, chatting and telling her stories. He's got never ending patience and cares for pretty much everyone on the planet. He's gets teary eyed over sad scenes in movies or books which is kind of a nuisance when his favorite film is Titanic, even if he does claim it's for the music. Every time he watches it he ends up shedding tears and what's worse is that he then plays the main theme on piano in the following days and it has pretty much the same effect.

He's called away by Jeff, who's wondering where his middle son has disappeared to. He promises to pay her a visit later.

She thanks him for his time before settling back down with yet another sneezing fit. Nobody in the history of the planet has ever enjoyed a cold and Kayo's rather grateful that they don't get many.

/

It's two days later and she's knocking on a door. A hoarse voice from the other side tells her to come in.

Virgil is laid up in bed and has been sneezing all morning. He forces a smile as he looks up to see her. His look turns to one of astonishment as he notices what she's carrying. A warm smile creeps onto her face.

"I borrowed your mother's recipe from Scott." She tells him. "I hope you don't mind."

He's voice is a little too croaky to allow him to speak properly but the smile manages to get the message across : he is very,very grateful.


	14. Truths

The sun's setting on yet another warm day at Tracy Island. There's something about the climate here, always warm and always pleasant... Apart from the occasional storm that blows through, when that happens it's like Armageddon itself is being unleashed against them. That's when they understand why the entire building is reinforced and designed for typhoon level weather.

Kayo Kyrano is carrying a pile of paperwork to for her legal guardian to sign. The high school certainly likes to leave things to the last moment considering she's getting on a plane tomorrow but she'll give them the benefit of the doubt and put it down to the postal service they rely on.

She's nervous, of course but both John and Scott have assured her that it's fine and that she'll like it there. She's also got an advantage that they didn't have, namely the fact that she's in the same class as Virgil, so it's not as if she's going it alone.

The door to Jeff's office is slightly open, she guesses that Virgil's probably in there getting his own documents signed so she doesn't bother knocking like she normally would. He looks up from his work a little startled and appears tired, unusually so :

"I'm sorry Mr. Tracy." She apologizes backing away a little bit. "I'll come back when you're not busy."  
"No, it's okay." He waves his hand signalling her to come in. "I guess this is your paperwork."  
"Yes." She comes over and hands it to her.  
"You excited?"  
"I guess I'm pretty nervous." She admits honestly.  
"Oh, no need to be..." He assures her in a kind voice. "You'll do fine. Remember how frightened John was when- Kayo?"

He notices that she's become distracted. Her eyes are fixed upon the image of a man which Jeff had been looking at prior to her coming in. The girl's eyes are wide and the fear on her face is only too clear to be read. Jeff frowns, instantly realizing that something is wrong. Kayo doesn't scare easily, only fire really frightens her and the way that she's looking at this man, something's clearly wrong.

"Hey!" He snaps his fingers in front of Kayo's face a couple of times trying to snap her out of it. "Kayo what is it? Do you know this man?"  
"Mr. Tracy what's he done?"  
"Sit down Kayo." Jeff instructs.

She's turned pale and the words seem to be taking some time to reach her. Still, after a few moments, she sits down on the chair, unable to take her eyes off of the photo of the man. Jeff lets out a deep sigh, this really isn't what she needs right now but with a reaction like this one, he doesn't think he can just let this lie and rely on her to tell him about it when she feels ready.

This man is just too dangerous for all that.

"Kayo, now I need you to tell me who this man is." He requests in a firm voice.  
"He made me promise... Mr. Tracy, I can't-"  
"Now listen to me Kayo, this man is dangerous. You need to tell me who he is." Jeff lets out a sigh, truly sorry for what he's about to you. "This is serious. You're going to have to either tell me or the police. You understand?"  
"Please, please no, not the police..." She begs.  
"Then just tell me." He requests in a softer voice.  
"That man, is _bapa saudara_." Jeff raises an eyebrow, she hesitates translating it in her head, what comes out is a whisper. "My uncle..."

Mr. Tracy stares at her incredulously for a couple of moments before letting out a deep sigh. He puts his head in his hands and tugs at his hair. Kayo looks at him, she's scarred, she's not meant to be afraid here, Jeff promised her a long time that she wouldn't be frightened any more...

Jeff looks up finally, a look of pure desperation on his face. He inhales, hoping that a deep breath will calm him.

"Kayo, there's um- Something I've been meaning to tell you for a while now." He declares realizing that there's no going back. "It's about the fire that killed your parents. This man – your uncle – he was there wasn't he?"  
"He- He dragged me out of the house." She recalls closing her eyes in an attempt to block out painful memories. "He saved me but made me promise not to tell – not to tell anyone that I saw him."  
"He saved your life?" Jeff repeats a little surprised, she nods shakily. "Damn it, I should have told you sooner..."

Alarm bells. Mr. Tracy never swears! Not in front of them in any case. Well, he did once after a particularly frustrating business call refer to his associate by a rather rude term and Grandma ended up chasing him around the kitchen threatening to wash out his mouth with soap. Sufficed to say, they avoided swearing in her presence.

She wants to leave but her legs won't allow her. All of these memories that she's tried so hard to put behind her are coming rushing back and she realizes that they're still just as painful. To make things worse, it looks like Jeff's about to add on another layer.

"The fire that night, it wasn't an accident." Kayo's head snaps up at the revelation.  
"But that would mean-"  
"We thought that it was sabotage at first." Jeff cuts her short. "But – I'm sorry, Kayo – your parents, they were dead before the fire even started."

Kayo just looks at him with eyes wide, blinking from time to time. She knows English now, it's as good as any of theirs so he knows it's not a language issue; he suspects that the issue lies with the fact that it's a lot for her to take in.

A silence settles in between them. The girl says nothing and barely even moves. God knows what's going through her head. Every now and then, her eyes will drift from the picture of her uncle over to Jeff Tracy. He doesn't say anything, choosing to give her some time to process everything. She'll speak when she's ready; it takes over two minutes for her to finally speak out in voice so quiet Jeff has to strain himself to hear her:

"Why didn't you tell me?"  
"Tell you that your parents were murdered? It isn't that easy, especially not with a little kid." He lets out a deep and regretful sigh. "I was going to but... You seemed so happy, like a normal little girl. I didn't want you to have something like that on your conscience- That and I'm a coward..."

She closes her green eyes struggling to block out the world around her or more accurately, the one which is trying to manifest itself in her head based upon her memories.

She finds herself thrown back into her house that night, she can almost feel the flames, she's calling out for her parents again. The door was locked; it was never locked! Her uncle, he had been there, she finds herself adding him into the story, adding in the parts which she didn't witness. Her uncle was a bad man, that's what pretty much everyone had ever told her, why was it only now that she was believing them?

"He killed _Ibu_ and _Bapa_ , didn't he?" She asks finally.  
"Kayo-" Jeff tries to cut it short fearing that it's enough for one evening.  
"Didn't he?" Her voice is cutting, angry.  
"Someone murdered them, yes." He lets out reluctantly. "I had left some confidential documents concerning Tracy Industries projects in your father's care, the police think that somebody tried to steal them and when your father tried to intervene-"  
" _Somebody_ \- my uncle killed them..." Kayo fills in. "Then lit the fire."

Jeff nods slowly, that was the police's theory : an attempted case of corporate espionage or maybe even sabotage gone wrong, with disasterous consequences for the Kyrano family. The fire, probably intended to hide the culprits trail had only lead to further devastation.

Kayo remains seated where she is, fixing the floor; her expression blank. Jeff notices that she's gritting her teeth so hard that he can practically hear them grinding from where he's sitting, she's gripping the arms of the chair hard too.

He's a little too slow with his diagnosis, probably because he's never seen Kayo - * _crash * -_ get angry and lose her temper.

Well, that's one chair less in the household, not that they're particularly short of them. Still, he's impressed by the girl's strength, at nearly fourteen, it's quite a feat to be able to throw a chair into a wall that hard.

He shakes off his stupor, noticing the rage in the girl's eyes :

"Kayo!" He calls out a mixture of shocked and panicked.

She's either not listening or too angry to be able to hear him right now. Fortunately, furniture doesn't seem to be on her hit-list anymore. Instead, she starts storming up and down like an enraged bear. She's yelling in a mixture of English and Malay to such an extent that he can't quite understand what she's saying. He makes out a few curses though, very uncharacteristic of her.

He stands there for a few seconds, totally helpless and unsure how to react. Kayo has always been unusually level-headed and mature for her age, which has meant that up until now, he's never had this kind of problem before and now that he's faced with it, well, he just doesn't know what to do.

"Kayo calm down..." He tries in a soft voice which just doesn't seem to reach her. "Kayo! Kayo! Can you hear me?!"

She's still storming up and down, not paying any attention to him what-so-ever. He'd run over and try and stop her but he's worried that she'd become even more out of control. He lets out a sigh and runs his hand through his hair. Should he just let her go on like this and wait until she tires herself out?

As she storms past, he catches a glimpse of something else behind her raging eyes and suddenly he understands that this anger is just a front. She's reacting to pain and this is just the first stage of it. So he does the only thing which he thinks might possibly put an end to it :

" _Tanusha Kyrano berhenti!_ "

She stops instantly recognizing her mother tongue. She turns to look at him, her eyes wide with shock. The nurses taught him some useful phrases in Malay should she ever begin to cause trouble or need anything. Most of it's gone now but he's grateful that he can still remember _stop_. Although he suspects that it's more the use of her original name which has drawn her attention.

Tanusha Kyrano stares at him for a few moments, her eyes wide. She might have calmed down a little...

Suddenly, she lets out an angry cry and punches the wall next to her. There's an awful cracking sound, Kayo's fist leaves a mark in the plaster. She lets out a cry of pain, his right fist is covered in blood.

She contemplates her bloodied knuckles, her fist shaking slightly. For a few moments, she seems to be in shock. Jeff takes a few steps towards her, slowly, not wanting to risk startling her. One look tells him that there's no risk of that : there are tears brimming behind her eyes.

Kayo begins to sob, she's shaking a little too. Jeff lets out a sigh and runs a hand through his hair, at least she's calmed down a bit but he can already see what's coming.

"Kayo... I'm sorry-"

He doesn't have enough time to finish his sentence. Kayo's holding on to him. It takes a couple of seconds but he slowly pulls her in for a hug.

It can be easy to forget that she's fourteen. A fourteen year old who's already been through more hardship and pain than most adults will ever face in their entire lifetimes. She doesn't let it show. You wouldn't be able to tell her apart from any other kid her age. In fact, this is one of the very few times in the six years that she's ever cried.

In fact, he can't recall her crying before, not since she was a child in the hospital. So he doesn't really know what to do other than hold her close and wait until she stops. Kayo's crying loudly, shaking slightly as she does so. She cries out something in Malay which he can't understand : the anger in her voice has been replaced by pain and sorrow.

"Shh... It's okay." He speaks softly.  
"It's not fair!" She manages through her sobs. "I want them back! Why can't they come back?!"  
"You know that's not how it works..."

She closes her eyes continuing to cry. Everything seems to hurt. It feels like her parents have just died again. The wounds which she at least thought had closed have reopened, worse than ever as the poison which is her uncle has been added to the mix. All she can do is cry and it seems as if she's got endless tears to give.

Jeff knows about this kind of thing, having to nurse five sons through the loss of his mother whilst dealing with the loss himself has taught him that it can take time for such outbursts to calm down.

The door opens suddenly and in steps John. He takes one look at the situation - a crying Kayo in Jeff's embrace, the latter who's shirt is stained with blood and the office also seems to have been wrecked – and realizes that now isn't the time.

"Dad? Kayo?" He looks a little surprised and out of place. "Is everything okay?"  
"John could you go get your grandmother?" Jeff requests calmly. "Tell her to bring some ice and the first aid kit. Kayo's had a little turn."

John nods slowly, reading between the lines and understanding the hidden message. _Having a turn_ was Tracy code speak for being upset over the death of Lucy, it had been common place for several years after her death. He disappears a second later, closing the door as he goes.

Tears are still flowing down her cheeks but she seems to have calmed down a little. She still won't let go though. Her bloodied knuckles have stained his shirt and her tears have thoroughly soaked it too. At least she's not yelling any more.

It takes a few minutes for Grandma to turn up. When she does, she has a bag of frozen peas and the first aid kit tucked under one arm. Her look of concern turns to one of sympathy upon seeing Kayo in Jeff's arms :

"Oh dear..." She mutters closing the door behind her. "Whatever's the matter Kayo?"  
"You remember that thing we discussed about the fire?" Grandma nods. "She just found out and that man, the one they're calling the Hood – he's her uncle."

The mention of both incidents cause Kayo to cry a little harder as the mere memory seems to burn her, she grabs hold of Jeff a little tighter. Grandma places a hand on her shoulder sympathetically. Kayo manages to look at her, the girl's eyes are red and streaming.

It takes a few more minutes for her to calm down enough to be confident enough to pull away from Jeff. She finds herself weak legged and were it not for both Mr. Tracy and his mother, she would probably have fallen. Thankfully, they both have quick reflexes and help her so that she just sits down on the floor.

"Deep breaths Kayo." Grandma encourages her. "Take deep breaths."

Her breaths are a little jerky as she struggles with a mixture of hiccups and a few sobs which are still trying to escape. She gasps trying to calm herself. Grandma rubs her back a little, telling her that it's okay. It takes a few moments and a handkerchief to calm her down enough for Jeff to contemplate doing something about her injured hand :

"Can you move your fingers?" He asks, sure enough she manages to wiggle them. "Good. You were lucky, I don't think they're broken."  
"She goes through grief the same way as you!" Grandma Tracy declares holding Kayo's good hand. "Angry-Stupid-Sad!"  
"Sorry..." Kayo manages through a sob.  
"No need to apologize." Grandma tells her. "We all have to let it out sometimes."

She winces as Jeff applies some antiseptic to her injury. Her knuckles are bloody but probably look worse than they actually are, she's managed to get away with just skinning them. They bandage her hand up and hope that'll do, she's got to tell them if it gets any worse but for the moment, they're going to assume the best.

Kayo's strength seems to have left her. She just lies on the floor, resting her head on Grandma's lap as she brushes some of the girl's hair out of her face. She spends a couple of moments, breathing deeply and trying to clear her head which feels like it just got hit by a brick.

"I miss them..." Is all that she eventually manages to get out. "I- I don't know- My uncle- Why?"  
"Easy there..." Jeff advises, his voice calm.  
"Are you going to tell the police?" She asks finally, fearing an affirmative response.  
"I don't think I can any more Kayo."

She looks at him with wide eyes. He lets out a sigh, telling her that this man the Hood is a specter. He's supposedly involved in corporate sabotage, illegal trafficking and if they could write it up, he would have a criminal record too big to fit in a single dossier. The G.D.F don't officially believe he exists but word from an old friend from his air force days, a certain Casey informs him that they'd actually be rather glad to have a potential lead regarding his identity. The Hood, if he exists is trouble and best not crossed.

He doesn't want her in the potential firing line.

"What to do Kayo is when you're ready, tell me." Jeff requests placing a hand on her shoulder. "Tell me everything about your uncle."  
"He- He would be angry." She recalls her uncle's famous temper.  
"He can't hurt you here." Grandma assures her. "We'll protect you but it'll be easier if you tell us what you know."

She hesitates. Uncle would kill her if he knew, kill her for very little as she knows only a little about him. He murdered her father – his own brother – for almost nothing and she's certain he wouldn't hesitate any more if it were her. So, of course, she's scared. If only she'd come in about five minutes later, if only she'd knocked, she'd never have seen his face again and likely have been none the wiser.

She lets out a sigh. She could say _no_ but then she feels as if it would be a betrayal of Mr. Tracy and everything that he and his family have done for her. She tries to imagine what her parents would say, what they would want...

"Okay..." She lets out finally. "-But, please... Don't tell anyone else, not even the boys..."  
"Kayo, you know that we don't keep secrets on this island." Jeff reminds her sternly.  
"I know but- They can't know..." She whispers the last part. "Please Mr. Tracy."

He lets out a frustrated sigh and starts pacing once more, running a hand through his hair. He just knows he'll be gray, possibly bald before the age of 50. Sometimes, just sometimes, he wishes that he'd stayed back on his father's farm, he wouldn't have to deal with this sort of thing. Kayo's sat up slightly awaiting his response. Grandma stays close to her providing some comfort, all to aware of how difficult these past few minutes have been for her :

He looks back, damn, she's obviously been taking lessons from Alan when it comes to pathetic puppy eyes :

"Okay." He lets out finally, a little bitterly. "Here's the deal Kayo. I'll keep your secret, we both will. On one condition : you promise that you will tell the boys one day – when you're ready – but you will tell them."  
"I-" She hesitates a few moments. "I promise Mr. Tracy."

He nods. He's not happy, she can tell that but even so, he's going through with this.

So she sits there and tells them both everything. She has to draw back to the memories of her childhood, they're painful because her parents are there and they can't be now but she forces herself to do it. She tells him everything. Everything that she's certain he knows about her uncle. It's not much but it's all she has.

Jeff pays close attention, taking notes, occasionally asking her if she knows anything else. It takes about ten minutes and she wishes that she wasn't there but forces herself to tell them everything that she knows.

There's an awkward silence once they've finished. All this talk of criminal activity is enough to put a dampener on the evening. It's Grandma who finally breaks the ice :

"You've got school tomorrow Kayo. It's late. How about getting to bed?"  
"Yes. You're right..." She agrees, yawning slightly. "It's been a long day..."  
"It certainly has..." Jeff mutters in a quiet voice. "Goodnight Kayo and thank you."  
"Goodnight Mr. Tracy, Grandma..."  
"You sleep well." Grandma gives her a smile but can't help but add. "Don't forget early rise tomorrow so you can get on the plane."  
"Okay..."

Kayo opens the door and steps outside.

Almost instantly, the five boys come over to her. They look at her without saying anything. A silent understanding passes between them. John will have told his brothers about her in tears. They won't have eavesdropped, they respect her and her privacy too much for that but they know she's upset.

Scott steps forwards first and puts his arms around her, his brothers soon join in. She hesitates a couple of moments before returning the gesture. She closes her eyes, taking comfort from their presence.

It's not enough to remove her pain but it tells her she's not alone.


	15. School

Her sleep is mercifully dreamless, by which she means that there were no nightmares. Kayo seldom had dreams as such, she had them occasionally but more often than not, she would find herself back in that little cave trying to shelter from the flames or usually a more horrific twist of the memory. The night after she'd learned the truth, she'd suffered from many such nightmares, to such an extent, that after a few hours, she'd given up trying to sleep, choosing to make sure her bag was all packed instead.

Her uncle had killed her parents. There was murder in her blood. From what she could understand, he'd probably killed more people than just them. She felt guilty : as a child, they had never been that close and he'd never really tried to mask the fact that he wasn't overly fond of him, still, she had for some reason always anticipated his arrival with a certain amount of enthusiasm for all of the excitement that he brought from the outside world. The fact that she had even been concerned about what happened to him during the fire seemed like an insult and one which she was ashamed of.

She had been worried about the fate of the man who had murdered her parents and abandoned her and she hated herself for that.

Grandma and Jeff had noticed that she looked tired in the morning and had even suggested putting off her first day at school, although they hadn't said it openly, she knew that they feared another outburst, this time away from the Island where they couldn't do anything about it. She'd politely refused however assuring them that she was well – she was fairly sure they saw through the lie but glad that they decided not to push the issue any further.

It felt weird loading her suitcase onto Jeff's jet and saying goodbye to Grandma, Gordon and Alan. Virgil who had been leaving with her had been especially emotional and it had taken both Grandma and Scott to be able to pry little Gordon off of his big brother. Curiously, she'd had a similar problem with Alan when the 9 year old had physically latched onto her leg and John's and had refused to let go. Cute had rapidly turned to annoying and Kayo had been running on a short fuse since yesterday. So it was probably a good thing that the boy's father intervened.

It's hard to say goodbye to them and she promises to call. This is her home and now that it's today, she doesn't want to go but she has to... Like Jeff says, they can't stay here together. Scott and John have assured her and Virgil that it's not so bad out there either. So, she forces herself up the steps of the plane and into her seat.

Leaving the Island physically hurt much like leaving her home back in Malaysia had. It felt as if she were leaving a part of herself behind on that large rock in the South Pacific. She just hoped that Grandma and the boys would look after it for her, until she returned. She watched out of the window of the plane for as long as she could, until the island disappeared from her vision.

"Kayo..." A soft voice and a hand on her shoulder draws her from her sleep.  
"Huh?" She mutters still a little sleepy.  
"We'll be landing in a few minutes." Virgil informs her.

She pulls herself to. She'd fallen asleep not long after take-off, falling into a dreamless sleep but a restful one. It's as good a way as any to pass time, she guesses and – _oh_ – She jolts up suddenly realizing that she's fallen asleep on John's shoulder. He doesn't seem to have minded, barely even looking up from his book.

"You've been out cold for about three hours." John informs her, closing his book.  
"Really?" She knows it must have been something like that. "Well, you have very comfortable shoulders."  
"I'll take compliments where I can get them." John chuckles softly.  
"Put your belts on!" Scott requests, noticing that Virgil's still standing despite the fact that they'll be landing soon.

They don't need to be told twice. Sure enough, the blue sea has been replaced by land : California. There had been some talk at one point about sending them to Hawaii but eventually America's third largest state had been chosen. They were coming up on the runway now. She could hear Jeff talking to whoever was in the control tower, letting them know he was landing.

Kayo had to admit, being rich and living the high life wasn't half bad. Landing in a private jet at an airport and not having to suffer the same delays as she would travelling with the general public was a welcome privilege. People barely even glanced at their papers, the mere name Jeff Tracy was enough to get the waved through any security checks. So, it's not really a surprise that they're already out of the airport before some people had even made it into the arrival's lounge despite having landed at the same time.

The car that Jeff hires or owns, he doesn't say and she's never asked, is a simple but large one, it has to be to carry six kids and two adults. He drives, never having been one for chauffeurs and it takes a fair bit longer for them to reach their high school.

Kayo looks out of the window at the passing city. It's a strange sight. She does leave the Island. They all do from time to time but that doesn't mean that suddenly winding up in a big city isn't a bit of a shock to the senses for a few hours. There are so many people, coming from so many places of every shape and size, wearing odd clothes and shouting in foreign tongues. There are more strange sights, smells and sounds than she can possibly take in all at once.

She'll have to get used to it, she knows she will but for the moment, it's still like being hit with a senses bomb.

The car pulls up outside a rather impressive looking high school. Buses are already unloading kids who entering the school on mass, some chat outside the gate. Kayo stares out a little uncertain. She's not used to this many kids of her age and she can't help but wonder if she's going to get on with them. Scott gets out first, closely followed by John; they know the school and as ever, the eldest brother is the one to lead.

Virgil and Kayo take their first cautious steps out of the vehicle as if they're afraid that the ground might suddenly open up and swallow them. Jeff puts a hand on each of their shoulders and leads them over to the boot. They get their suitcases out and put their school bags over their shoulders.

"You'll do fine." Jeff assures them. "You knock em' dead – uh, Kayo that's figurative, okay? Please, don't hit anybody."  
"Okay, Mr. Tracy." She manages an innocent little smile.  
"Virgil, I know you're shy but don't let that hold you back. Okay, little man?"

The boy nods. Jeff keeps the goodbyes relatively quick, he doesn't particularly want to embarrass them in front of their future class mates. So a few hugs and some words of encouragement are quickly passed between them. He reminds them to tell him if anything's bothering them and to call and with that, they find themselves plunged into the world of high school.

Scott and John tell them that everything will be okay and that they'll get used to it. She's not too sure but considering that she's stranded here, she figures she's got to try.

First thing's first : orientation. Not easy in such a big place, this school's probably larger than their entire Island! They turn up at the office, wait patiently in line, they need their rooms. Scott and John go first, the receptionist makes a few comments which fly over both Kayo and Virgil's heads but which cause both of them to turn a bright shade of pink. When questioned, they simply say it's in the past.

Kayo fills out a couple of forms and is given her keys and the number of her dorm. It's a different building to the boys. So, for the first time in many years she's separated from them. She heads to the dorms, her lessons don't start for an hour or so, so she chooses to at least see where she'll be sleeping.

It's not much, an average sized room with three beds in it. So, she must have two room mates then... She looks around, no sign of them. The receptionist told her to just pick a bed if the others weren't taken. She goes for the one closest to the window and begins unpacking. She puts her clothes in the drawers under her bed and places her few possessions on the table, a clock, a lamp and that photo from Christmas. She hesitates, choosing to keep that in her suitcase instead. She smiles briefly upon noticing the last thing in her case.

"Cute tiger." A girl's voice startles her.  
"Huh?" She asks jumping up.  
"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." The other teen apologizes. "This is the room I was given."  
"It's okay..." It takes a few moments for her to remember Jeff's pointers about politeness. "I'm Kayo. Kayo Kyrano."  
"Danielle Hudson." She seems a little amused when Kayo shakes her hand. "Are you English or something."  
"Malaysian." Kayo corrected politely.  
"Oh, your English is very good."  
"I been living with Americans for a while now."  
"So how come you don't sound American, then?"  
"Uh..."

A question she doesn't quite know the answer to and she's beginning to wonder if she ever will.

Kayo soon learns that a lot of people can't put Malaysia on a map.

Least of all her second roommate, whilst Danielle seems all right, Carrie is uh-... Well, she tries Kayo's patience. She speaks quickly, almost too much for her roommates to be understand and as soon as she learns that she lives on Tracy Island, the amount of questions she asks is unbelievable, some of which the young Malaysian teenager can't help but find impertinent and the comment about her cuddly tiger comes dangerously close to earning her a bloody nose.

 _Breathe in and breathe out_ : they promised Jeff that they wouldn't get in any fights for at least a week.

She'll talk about her roommate to Virgil, later on, before they go into history. He laughs and bets that before the day is done everyone will know that she lives with them on Tracy Island. Rumors spread quickly. It won't take long for her to realize this.

Her first classes are strange and very different from what she's used to. Obviously, Jeff had neither a blackboard nor the time to teach them personally, so he'd given them books and access to learning programs and so far, it had worked out pretty well. They had had several private tutors over the years but nothing compared to actually being in a classroom full of other kids.

She sits next to Virgil. Familiarity makes them feel comfortable.

First major problem, thanks to last night's outburst (that's suddenly starting to feel like a long time ago), her knuckles are swollen, black and blue, the bandage which covers them only just manages to conceal the bloody injury. She can't even clench her fist, let alone hold a pen long enough to write anything comprehensible. She tries but she ends up gritting her teeth in pain and letting the pen slip out of her hand.

So she has to make up some ridiculous story about getting her hand stuck in a door to explain to the teachers why everything she's writing is messy and that she's strictly right handed. On the upside, she's always wanted to practice with her left hand.

That evening, dinner's an odd experience surrounded by other boarders. She sits with Scott, John and Virgil.

"You'll get used to it." John assures them.  
"I'm sure..." Kayo mutters struggling with cutting her food using only one hand, Virgil offers to help her. "Thanks Virgil."  
"No problem. Hey, I'm not sure about you guys but my roommates are kind of-" Virgil pauses looking for the right word. "Quiet all they do is play computers, at least when I was there."  
"Don't complain!" Kayo requests, thinking back to the gossip girl living in her room.  
"Hey, we're three Tracys and a Kyrano..." Scott declares, leaning back in his chair a little. "I think we can take on the world."

Kayo just smiles. Is taking on high school the same as taking on the world? Today, it's sure felt like it a couple of times.

 _ **/**_

 _ **I'd just like to say the school and boarding facilities are based on the ones in my country and I have no idea what they're like in the US. Thanks again, for all the reviews.**_


	16. Fatherhood

Jeff Tracy considers himself to be a rather good father, as well as a decent human being. There is more that he could have done of course, especially after Lucy died and he wishes he spent more time with his boys but overall, he doesn't think he's done that bad a job.

He'll often ask himself what Lucy would do. Wonder if she would have done things differently. Imagine a world where she hadn't been lost to the snow and ice and where she was there beside him. He dreams sometimes of a world, where she's still here and she's sitting there with him and their five boys, she's so proud of them and she laughs with Kayo, the two get on so well that she might as well be her daughter.

Then, he wakes up looking out over the vast expanse of the never ending ocean. He lets out a sigh, what was he doing again? Oh yeah, that's right! The fearsome four are still at school and unfortunately, the issuing mayhem is pretty much a daily task for him to have to deal with.

He was a fool to have thought it but at some point, he had dared to imagine that Scott, John, Kayo and Virgil might be able to avoid trouble on the mainland and live the lives of comparatively normal kids but within about two days, it had become painfully obvious that they were never going to be _"ordinary"_ or at least not as most people would see it.

He had on his desk, he has their report cards and a whole stack of various letters from the school concerning various incidents. They'll call from time to time but the kids in his charge seem to be in trouble so much that they practically receive telegrams concerning their various exploits on an almost daily basis.

He lets out a sigh, wondering where to start.

Scott, he's been going to school the longest and has as such acquired quite a substantial amount of paperwork. Most of it is pretty harmless. There are quite a few little notes from the teachers about how he really should be paying more attention to the lessons than to his pretty neighbors. Then, there's his temper and tendency to over-react. He's always been a little hot-headed, ever since he was a little boy, so in a way, Jeff's not all that surprised and his grades are nothing to complain about either.

John's the most manageable of his boys. Level-headed, calm and a brilliant student. If he's in trouble it's usually because he followed Scott or because he's daydreaming. He's a genius and the hard fact of life is, his brain's way ahead of most of his lessons. So, when he's in chemistry or physics, of course he's going to spice up the experiments a little bit and see what happens and yes, trial and error are going to mean that sometimes, the lab might explode or be covered in a colorful group of one kind or another.

Virgil, well, it's fair to say that the trouble he's usually is pretty harmless. Jeff was rather saddened when he discovered that the school disapproved of his middle son's mural, okay so maybe the outside of the teacher's lounge wasn't the place to do it but still, giving the lad detention merely for expressing his artistic talents seemed a little harsh. He had had a little less sympathy with the young artist when he had hijacked (with John's help) the school speaker system to play the Pyotr Ilyvich Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. Yes, it was okay to be grandiose but not all the time and he had to respect that some people might not see things the same way he did.

Then there was Kayo. Sweet, little innocent Kayo... Well, she'd certainly earned her name! To give the girl some credit, she had kept her promise and done as he had asked. He was certain that she had timed it to the second, for 7 days almost minute for minute after having dropped her off, he'd received a call to tell him that Kayo had been in a fight. She had responded to some teasing, perhaps not very friendly and had lashed out. In a way, Jeff can understand why, at home, whenever she or one of the boys was teased they would often play fight – never violent, always good natured, just some rough and tumble – which would almost always end up in the pool. She's never really been face to face with real hostility before and it would seem that she's quick to fly off of the handle.

He wants to tell her she's wrong but her stubbornness means that she's never down for the count and after a few black eyes, cuts and bruises, well nobody's too keen on picking on her. She even got a place of the school martial arts club, he's not too sure that's a good thing though... Kayo can be a handful on the best days and with her actually getting training, well... He'd rather not get on her bad side.

She doesn't get on with people too much, that's become apparent. She likes them quiet, calm and predictable, funny considering where she's been living these past few years and the company she's used to but in any case, people getting excited around her makes her uneasy. She's got a few acquaintances and doesn't seem to mind one of her roommates – although she positively loathes the other but Jeff gets the feeling that she's always going to be one of these people who prefers a small and closely knit group of friends, like she had back on the island to a crowd.

Whilst each of his charges are a handful by themselves, the real fun or should that be mayhem starts when they're together... He really must get some of these disciplinary complaints framed because some of them are just beyond belief.

He knows they can get bored on weekends but was going camping without notifying the school authorities or him for that matter might just be pushing things a little. He's all for them sticking together, he really is, they're close and should stay that way but when he hears that Kayo and Virgil have been attending some of John's classes and the teacher's only just noticed, he finds himself having to remind them that they can't always stick to each other like glue and if he gets one more call telling him that his kids have _"disappeared without a trace"_ he's going to order them to be handcuffed to a radiator.

He doesn't know what they get up to. No one does but they do go on _walkabouts_ , for lack of a better term without telling anyone and end up giving both him and the school officials heart attacks. Whilst, some of the teachers believe their motives for disappearing might not be entirely good natured or moral, Jeff is willing to give the four of them the benefit of the doubt and assume that their little vanishing acts are more likely due to curiosity and exploring than anything else.

It's a wonder that they've never been expelled or at least suspended, surely Virgil should have been suspended for what he did to that car... Jeff's just going to put it down to their good grades and yes, maybe even the Tracy name (it certainly can't do any harm), that and the fact that they've not actually killed anybody – yet – although his hair's certainly suffered from it.

He lets out a sigh and leans back in his chair.

This one he just received today has him stumped. This is the first time he really thinks that the school had over-reacted. Which is why he's about to call them. Something must be wrong, if anything the school is becoming more leniant where Tracy... _Excentricities_ are concerned. So, he's sure that there's something he's misunderstood or simply hasn't been told.

He calls the number, it takes a few seconds for the principal to answer. He knows the middle aged woman quite well now, after all, she spends a disproportionate amount of her time dealing with his charges various issues.

"Ah! Yes, Jeff Tracy here. Yes, I'm calling about the message- No, not that one... What?! Since when?! Tell her I'll talk to her later. No, no... She's always liked climbing trees... I was more concerned by the other letter you sent me. I don't see what building a model airplane could- Oh, so it wasn't a model... You mean? - Well, that is quite an accomplishment. No! No! I'm not encouraging it!... Do you think it would have flown?"

The school definitely have their hands full with the four that he's already unleashed, that's for sure. Jeff doesn't really have it in him to tell them that Gordon could very well make the four eldest seem positively mild.


	17. Boys

Kayo has lived a large part of her life surrounded by boys.

There are six on her home island : five brothers and their father.

It's something that she's very used to and doesn't even think about any more. She's only really got one girl friend, Penelope and she lives on a different continent.

She doesn't mind. Although some of her teachers have suggested to her that it might be best if she spent more time with someone other than a Tracy. She doesn't see it as an issue, she's been with them so long, they're practically her family.

It does lead to some interesting scenarios because frankly, some people can't get the whole _brothers not boyfriend_ thing into their skulls.

The bond that's developed between them is quite difficult to explain and even when she does or at least when she tries, she gets the feeling that people don't understand, not really... She loved them, yes that was true but she wasn't in love with any one of them. They were her brothers in all but blood. She had grown up with them, she was part of their little group. They told each other their secrets, plotted together, shared their dreams...

They were friends, they were family...

It was hard for her to explain that when Scott put his arm around her shoulders, pulled her close and laughed with her, it didn't mean anything other than they were friends who found something funny. The fact that John was unusually open and chatty around her was because he only really opened up around people he'd known for quite some time and trusted, not because he fancied her. If Virgil drew a particularly flattering picture of her, it was because he was practicing for a family portrait...

For some reason, not everyone believed her. The amount of times she and one of her three high school attending brothers had been forced to clarify to their schoolmates that they were just friends and intervene to stop the gossip before some fabricated rumor somehow reached Jeff were legion.

For practical reasons, he'd told his sons that Kayo was strictly off-limits. Although they're all smart kids and they have their heads screwed on straight, he doesn't want the Island which they all share turning into an episode of some teenage soap opera. Fortunately, neither Kayo nor any of the boys felt that way.

The worse nuisance however as she had soon discovered was actually once they grasped that she genuinely wasn't romantically interested in any of the Tracy boys and they weren't in her either. Then, suddenly she became a rather interesting person to know.

The shear number of girls who approached her asking for tips on how to get noticed by Scott, John and Virgil or asking to be introduced, quickly began to grate on her nerves.

Scott's the worst, if only because he actually takes an interest. He's the heartthrob of the school and has had more girlfriends than she cares to count, for some reason though, he's still friends will all of them and at least he isn't in to double-timing. Kayo has been asked for his number, requested to be introduced to and that's not even taking into account all of the sudden _hangers on_ that she periodically acquires.

The worst thing is he's had the nerve to complain to her about some of his dates which haven't gone so well. A quick verbal clip around the ear sorted him out. She's awarded herself the right to tease him about it though as have the rest of his family.

"They're really bugging me!" She complains one night to Penelope over their communicators. "Do you get the same thing?"  
"I don't have the Tracy brothers for almost family." She replies giggling slightly at her friend's frustration.  
"What is it with them?" Kayo doesn't think that Penny's quite grasped just how annoying this is. "Why them?"  
"You mean other than the fact that they're the sons of one of the richest men on the planet." Penelope raises an eyebrow knowingly. "Well, you've got to admit they are rather good looking."

Kayo rolls her eyes but smiles none-the-less.

Yes, she's aware that they're all pretty handsome, okay maybe very. She might not be all that interested in boys but she's not completely oblivious to them either. She's heard enough girls talking about John's eyes, Scott's dimples or Virgil's ever growing stature to know that they're all rather popular.

"What about you?" Penny changes the subject slightly.  
"What about me?"  
"We've talked about your brother's love life long enough. What about you?"  
"I don't know Penny, boys are a pain." Kayo shifts slightly.  
"Ooh... I sense a story." The aristocrat smiles teasingly. "Come on. Lets hear it."

Kayo sighs but smiles obligingly.

It's not much of a story. A boy asked her out. She politely declined. He got a little stroppy. She had to put him back in his place. Penelope seems to find the whole thing hilarious.

It's not the first time she's said no and certainly not the first time she's been asked out. Apparently, green eyes are considered rather attractive by the local boys. The first few times, she was timid, blushing as red as beetroot but now, not so much. She's always polite so long as they are too and always takes the time to explain that it's nothing personal and that she just genuinely doesn't really feel like dating _anyone_ right now. Most of the time, they understand.

It's something that doesn't always sit well with the other kids. Marks her out as different but then John's much the same, he's not all that interested in girls. He'll be polite and friendly but as far as she knows, he's never dated anyone before.

"Well, maybe things will change one day." Penny suggests.  
"Maybe but until then..." She smiles slightly. "I think I'm just going to stick to having five brothers. It is possible to be boy-ed out."

Penny just laughs at her statement. Kayo smiles, it's easy for her. She doesn't live with the Tracy family.


	18. Black and blue

_**Thanks once more for all the reviews!**_

 _ **/**_

Kayo lets out a sigh as she looked at the digits on the paper. She's usually not too bad with maths but this algebra stuff is rather complicated and she would much rather be doing pretty much anything else other than maths. Not that she has a choice...

Lying down on her bed with her book open, wondering how on Earth she'll ever finish these exercises for tomorrow is not exactly her definition of fun.

There's a knock on her door. Unusual... Her roommates generally just walk in. Whoever it is doesn't wait for her answer and simply opens the door.

She's a little surprised to see a tall boy with familiar blue eyes. 

"Scott?" She greets him warmly but doesn't try to hide the fact that this is usual.  
"Hey, Kayo. What are you doing?"  
"Algebra, feel like giving me a hand?" Kayo raises an eyebrow aware that maths aren't his favorite subject either.  
"Do I have to?"  
"Count how many you owe me and think about that answer again."

Scott smiles, she doesn't need to press the point. In twelfth grade, he's already covered a fair bit of this in class. He's never really needed any encouraging to help his siblings with their school work. So, he sits there and explains it to her, he doesn't do it for her but is all too willing to talk her though it.

It takes a few minutes but the monster that is a polynomial is solved. She puts her maths books away, happy to have seen the back of them for the day.

"You still have this?" He laughs picking up her stuffed tiger.  
"Yes." She replies feeling a little possessive.  
"Relax." He speaks softly handing it back to her, a soft smile appears on his face as he notices her instinctively holding it close. "I've still got a rocket that my mom gave me... Keeps them close."

Kayo nods looking at the soft toy. It's been through the wars that's for sure. She was eight when she got it, perhaps a little too old for such things but it had brought her such comfort that she had never been able to part with it. It had taken a couple of months to get her to stop carrying it around with her and it had paid the price for accompanying her on her numerous adventures : it's fur's a little patchy and stained and one of it's eyes is threatening to fall out. She's been meaning to ask Grandma if she can fix him.

Even now, so far away from Malaysia and the Island, this tiger gives her courage.

She looks at it fondly for a few more moments, lost in her thoughts before raising her eyes to meet the eldest of the brothers. As pleasant as it was to have him help her with her maths homework and to have a chat, it was time to get down to business.

"What are you doing here?"  
"Is it a crime for me to want to see how you're doing?" Scott asks giving her his most charming smile.  
"Maybe not a federal one but you're not supposed to be in the girls' dormitory, especially not when I know you've got a physics class. Which means you're skipping lessons and you wouldn't do that this close to your exams unless it was something serious. So come on, spill. What's on your mind?"

Scott looks at her dumb folded for a couple of moments, a soft smile graces his lips. He runs a hand through his hair, a sure sign that something's up. The one thing the school doesn't tolerate is boys in the girl's dormitory or vice-versa, for obvious reasons. They've been warned about it before and especially because Kayo's not directly related to them, the potential punishment is being expelled. So he's taking quite the risk in being here.

"You might want to consider a career as a private detective." He laughs before becoming glum. "It's John..."  
"Oh-"  
"You noticed too, eh?"

Kayo nods solemnly.

John's been quiet – well, quieter. Word is he's barely speaking in class and some of his grades have even slipped a little. He's distracted, spends more time alone and even when he's with them, his family and the people he trusts the most in the world, he says virtually nothing and only if he's asked a question. At first, they had assumed it was just a phase. Then, Gordon had suggested that he might have a crush, something quickly passed off as rubbish.

Yesterday, he had a bruise on his cheek.

He told Kayo that he bumped into a door. Which is curious because he said to Virgil that he'd been hit in the eye by a stray baseball and Scott that he's been a little careless with his science experiments. Yeah- No, they're not idiots.

"You think someone needs a little _talking_ _to_?" She asks, her expression grave.  
"Yes." Scott replies before letting out a sigh and resting his head against his hand. "Problem is, Johnny isn't saying anything..."  
"Let me guess, a Tracy clan meeting?" She raises an eyebrow knowingly.  
"Yep." He nods, offering her a broad smile. "You in?"  
"Of course. Same time, same place?"  
"Meet you there."

He offers her his fist. She smiles before exchanging a fist thump with him. These Americans are strange creatures. Strange but quaint and she'll go along with their little eccentricities : they're harmless and good fun.

It's then of course that the door opens. No it couldn't be Danielle, it had to be Carrie. She looks at them wide eyed before smirking.

"Oh, I'm sorry am I interrupting something?"  
"Only your life expectancy." Kayo flatly replies.

Carrie turns a little pale as Scott chuckles before leaving. The good thing about being Kayo Kyrano is that people actually think that you might be serious with your threats.

She waits until dark. Time passes by, she listens to her roommates' quiet breaths as they sleep. She checks her clock 11.25 P.M : the grounds keeper will have gone in by now and his watch won't be replaced for another ten minutes. Just enough time...

Kayo silently slips into her clothes and opens the window. There's a drain pipe right outside within her reach. She can't help but look down as she grabs a hold of it. A fall from the third story onto the grass below probably wouldn't kill her – probably – but it most certainly would hurt, likely break half the bones in her body sort of hurt.

She takes a deep breath and steps off of the ledge, sliding down the gutter. It's always terrifying but at the same time never fails to get her pulse racing with a thrill. Her feet touch ground. She looks around for a couple of seconds before making her way towards the exit of the school's park.

Their high school is home to the children of some rather wealthy and influential people – least of all the Tracy family – so there's a fair bit of security in place. It took them all of a week to find all the cameras and figure out a way around them.

She runs along quietly taking advantage of the darkness to hide. She reaches the fence and climbs it with ease.

There's an old warehouse, not too far away. It's not been used in quite some time. They use it as a base. It's perfect for hiding things and is away from some of the prying eyes and indiscreet ears that are in their school.

She gets there quietly. Some people stare at her as she runs along; she returns their curiosity with a steel cold glare. A few blocks later, it's the warehouse.

She listens carefully first to make sure nobody else was in there. They walked in on a gang once. That turned nasty. They'd only just made it back; black and blue all over, cuts and scratches to boot; it had been a lucky escape for the four of them. Since then, they'd learned to listen first.

Tonight, nobody was in.

Kayo opens the door, just a crack, just enough for her to slip in. It's dark inside, fortunately, John rigged up a small and primative lighting system which allows them to see without generating so much light that passers-by will notice them.

The boys aren't here yet. She'll have to wait.

She waits a while and alone in such a lonely spot. It takes minutes, Virgil's appeared with Scott and John. The latter looks as if he'd rather be anywhere else in the world.

"Sorry we're late Kayo but it took some convincing for John to come along." Virgil explains.  
"It's not a problem." She replies.

They sit down in a small circle. John's head is hanging low, he looks like he's in the doghouse. Depending how much _convincing_ Scott had to do to get him to come with them; he may or not have just been several minutes of verbal Hell because if there's one thing that get's Scott's feathers all ruffled up, it's when something's wrong with of his little brother's and they won't tell him what it is.

She gives him a glance, yep, his on cluck-DEFCON 3 on the smotherhen scale. DEFCON 1 means all out war and she wouldn't out it passed him to get a tank if the need aroused.

Fortunately, it looks like the more level-headed Virgil's going to tackle this one.

"Come on Johnny..." He puts a hand on his immediate older brother's shoulder. "What's up?"  
"Nothing." He replies, his head in his hands. "I'm absolutely fine!"  
"Yeah right..." Scott cuts in. "You've not been yourself for two weeks, John! Whatever it is, you can tell us, we're your family..."  
"I'd tell him John." Kayo chirps in, giving him a knowing smile. "You know what he's like and none of us are going to let you go on this one."

He looks up at them defiantly for a couple of seconds. Then his blue-green eyes slowly drift from brother to brother to Kayo. He lets out a defeated sigh. He wouldn't have stood much of a chance had it been only Scott but with Virgil and Kayo also on his case? The battle was lost before it had even begun.

They're quiet and attentive as he tells them what's been going on. It's slow and uncertain at first but eventually comes out more fluidly the more he talks. It's clear that this has been weighing down on him quite some time and that he's desperately needed to get it out. 

"I don't know why they do it... It's just- Well... It wasn't much at first, just cold glances or the odd word here or there. I thought I could handle it." He lets out a sigh. "Then, it was shoves and before I knew it, a black eye."

Kayo frowns. They'd guessed as much but actually hearing it from his lips brings a new sense of reality and urgency, they can't afford to let the situation get any worse than it already is. Scott's pacing up and down, a sure sign that he's reached DEFCON-2, his fists are balled and it's only too clear that he's struggling to control his famous temper. There will be consequences...

"Who are they?" Scott demands.  
"Mitchel Barton, Denny Sparrow and Carl Thomas." John replies shuddering a little, as if simply mentionning their names brings back unpleasant memories.  
"Aren't they in your year, Scotty?" Virgil asks turning to his oldest brother.  
"Yes, they are. Real pieces of work..." He mutters bitterly.

Kayo knows the names vaguely. She's aware also that Scott dislikes them. They'd been some disagreement at some point, an argument... It doesn't really matter. Well, the eldest of the Tracy brothers isn't really someone who you want to take on in a fist fight... John however is much smaller. Well, he's tall but he's always been decidedly skinny and there's not a violent bone in his body : that makes him a much easier target.

"Why didn't you say?" Virgil asks his brother, his voice soft.  
"I didn't want to be a nuisance." John explains or at least tries to. "And, I don't know... I was frightened I guess."  
"You shouldn't be John..." Kayo speaks as gently as she can. "You should have told us. We're your friends and family, we'll always help us."

She places a hand on his shoulder. He looks up at her with a grateful smile on his face.

He's always been a little distant, just a little bit different from pretty much all of them, even his brothers and father. His head and heart are still somewhere up in the stars and she doesn't think they're likely to ever come back down. She knows that his greatest desire is to travel up there, into space and she doesn't doubt that he'll succeed one day.

Scott's reached DEFCON-1. He now simply stands there, his arms folded across his chest and ready for action. They wait for his plan. They'll go along with it so long as it's sensible and work out any potential kinks in it.

"I take it we're going to kick these guys butts?" Kayo raises an eyebrow at the oldest of the brothers.  
"Oh, yes..." He replies.

So they spend the next while planning. They get John to tell them just where these bullies usually ambushed him. It's usually when he's coming home from the town's observatory. The plan's a simple one, there's no sense in making this more complicated than it has to be.

It's six days later, when John's walking down the street, with his astrology books. He sees three figures coming towards him and instinctively darts down a dark alleyway. He's done it before in a ill-fated attempt to flee from them. There's a dead end, he learned that the hard way last week and ended up cornered as a result.

It's much the same this time. He runs into a wall and turns around just as the trio block off his only escape route.

"Going somewhere Johnny boy?" Asks one of them, with a broad grin.  
"I thought that you were supposed to be smart." Taunts another. "Did you forget that this is a dead end?"  
"Who knows maybe it'll literally a _dead_ end for you." Finishes the third.  
"Oh..." But John's smiling. "Don't worry, I haven't forgotten."

He nods behind them as another three figures draw near. Alarm flashes in the eyes of the three older boys.

Not many people would want to take on Scott Tracy in a fight. Although nobody really knows where, somewhere along the line of puberty, Virgil turned into a grizzly bear in terms of of build and Kayo Kyrano has a reputation of her own. They turn back to look at the rather slighter and less intimidating John, who's got a large smile on his face. 

"Looks like you forgot about my family."  
"So, this is when we start the butt kicking then?" Kayo exchanges glances with the others.  
"It sure is..." Virgil mutters despite his usual calmness and reluctance to be violent, seeing a brother in trouble is enough to quickly push him over the edge as he cracks his knuckles.

Kayo knows bullies rather well and one thing they don't tend to like that much is a scenario where someone's fighting back, especially when they have three pretty heavy weight punchers as back-up. So, she's not all that surprised when they end up running for their lives rather than put up a fight.

The smile on John's face is good to see and for some reason, she doubts that he's going to have any more trouble from those three. Of course, they'll probably all have a few bruises tomorrow but over-all, she considers that the end was worth the means. Virgil, who had momentarily swapped his huggable personality for the raw power and rage of a grizzly bear came over and placed a hand on his immediate older brother's shoulder.

"Feeling better bro?"  
"Much..." He replies with a genuine smile. "Thank you. I should have come to you guys sooner."  
"You should have." Kayo agrees. "Doesn't matter now, those guys won't be coming any where near you any time soon."  
"Yeah... Don't forget, John, we're here for you." Scott declares putting an arm around both John and Kayo's shoulders as he begins leading them away. "How's about a pizza?"  
"I'm game." Virgil replies with a smile.  
"Yeah, count me in."  
"Sure beats the school refectory..." John agrees.

They walk arm in arm down the street towards their favorite pizzeria. Earning a few odd looks as they go.

So they might be a little black and blue but it's nothing a little pizza won't solve. Not that any of them can ever agree on what toppings they have...


	19. Finding work

Kayo keeps fit. It's something she considers rather important.

Which is why she's in the school gym using the flying rings. Somebody should probably be there with her to make sure that she doesn't injure herself by falling but it's never happened before. She prefers being alone anyhow and has never really been one for being crowded.

She's spending more and more time here.

The two eldest brothers have moved on. Scott's joined the air force and John's studying laser communication in university and NASA is already showing an interest in him.

As for Virgil, well he's got a girlfriend and is busy studying for his upcoming exams, so she doesn't see quite as much of him as she would like. There's Gordon of course, who's a freshman but again, he has friends of his own and their free periods just don't seem to work out that well.

She suspects that after having had two Tracys and a Kyrano to deal with several years before hand, someone in the school's hierarchy has been pulling some strings to make sure it's difficult for them to get together and get up to some of their inventive pastimes.

So she comes here and trains. She's not too sure just what she's training for but the music playing through her earpieces, the silence of the empty gym and the strain of her muscles as she swings herself round on the flying rings somehow manage to bring her some peace of mind, something she finds she's been lacking a little of late.

Her uncle's been on her mind. She doesn't know why. He's miles away. She's not heard of him or heard from him in years. Jeff never mentions him. So why does he still haunt her nightmares?

Virgil tells her they all get nightmares, even his father. They remember the wall of ice, the cold, the death... It's normal, he tells her for her to have similar ones. Its fire instead of ice but the terror and the pain are still there. They're not very frequent but when she happens, well- she doesn't even bother to try and get back to sleep.

The nightmares bring a feeling of fear and uncertainty which can last for a couple of hours or sometimes a few days. She doesn't know why, all she wants is for them to stop.

Maybe that's why she comes here and practices on the rings or hits the punching bags so hard that she burst one once : to try and banish the nightmares and the memories from her mind.

If that's the case, then it's done subconsciously.

One more swing and a perfect landing. She decided that's enough for the day. It'll be time to eat soon and she promised Virgil and Gordon she'd join them, if she wants a shower, she'd better leave now.

She walks over to her stuff and wipes her face down with her towel before taking a couple of gulps of water from her bottle.

She pauses briefly running a hand over her the back of one of her shoulders. There's still a scar there. She has a few which are still visible. They haven't hurt in years but sometimes, if she thinks back to that terrible night, it feels as if the flames are still there, burning her. She's been doing that a lot recently.

"Quite impressive although you should have someone here, in case you have an accident."

Kayo jumps. She hadn't been aware of anyone else here. She automatically snaps into a defensive position which her martial arts instructor had taught her, as she spins around to face whoever's there with her.

She finds herself facing a middle aged, dark skinned woman who she's never seen before. She's definitely not from the school, she'd recognize her if she was. There's something about her, something which commands respect and gives off authority. In an odd way, she reminds Kayo a little bit of Jeff but not quite, there's something behind the woman's eyes, a sternness which tells her that she's someone best not crossed.

"Who are you?" Kayo demands.  
"Kayo Kyrano, right?" Kayo stiffens but doesn't acknowledge the woman's question, especially not when her own was just ignored. "Quite the record you've got. A talented student, very bright, a naturally gifted martial artist, fluent in two languages..."

"Who are you?" The teenager repeats this time a little more forcefully with some anger creeping into her voice.  
"Also aggressive, sometimes spiteful, you've been given a total of thirteen detentions and two suspensions for fighting on the school campus, when you were 10th grade you and three of the Tracy brothers whose father is your legal guardian and whom you've lived with since the age of eight and a half built an airplane out of essentially scrap that you acquired from the surrounding area, it would likely have flown were it not for its early discovery by your teachers."

She knows a lot about her but nothing that wasn't written down on a file somewhere in the school. Has she hacked the system or something?

Kayo is naturally cautious. Jeff had warned them about strangers. They were doubly at risk seeing as he was who he was. Though for some reason, she felt as if the danger which this strange woman presented was something a little different to a kidnapping and ransom demand... Kayo narrows her eyes, refusing to do even so much as blink faced with such an unknown threat.

"Over all, extremely promising if prone to getting into trouble." The stranger looks away. "I'm amazed that Jeff didn't try to break you of that."  
"Who. Are. You?" She asks one more time, punctuating each word.  
"Colonel Casey of the Global Defense Force."

Kayo's eyes widen. Yes, she's heard of Colonel Casey. Jeff's mentioned her a few times and she's seen her on TV. Instantly, she switches to panic mode.

The first thought that crosses her mind of course is that they know about her uncle. She's always been afraid of it and so has Jeff. He warned her to keep it secret because some people might not understand, people might think that she knew more than she actually did. That would put her in danger.

Slowly, fear's making a home in the pit of her stomach... Just what does this Colonel Casey want?

"Are you okay? You look a little pale."  
"Why are you here, Colonel Casey?" She asks trying to remain calm.  
"You're thinking about joining the Air Force, aren't you?"

Kayo doesn't initially respond. Had Jeff told her that?

She's always dreamed of flying, ever since she was a little girl. Scott's already there and has already flown. He's progressing incredibly quickly. She's been thinking about joining him out there. She's talked about it a little with her teachers and Jeff, they support her.

Somehow, that still doesn't explain just what Casey's doing here.

"You wouldn't come out here, just for that." Kayo deduces narrowing her eyes slightly.  
"You're right." Casey leaves a brief pause. "Scott's turning into a fine pilot, no doubt in a few years he'll be one of our best, if not the best but I don't think you will."  
"Just how do you know?" Kayo narrows her eyes, offended.  
"Don't get me wrong..." The colonel doesn't even bat an eyelid. "I think you'll make a fine pilot, better than average but we both know, that it wouldn't really be playing to your strengths."

Kayo shifts slightly unnerved. She's got all of the qualifications required to make a good pilot: perfect eyesight, fit and healthy, intelligent... Even Casey admitted that much. She's two steps away from slamming the colonel against the wall and demanding that she explain why she's here. Those two steps are:

1-uncertainty : she's not sure she'd get a straight answer even if she did that

2-fear: there's something about this Casey which tells her, if she were to fight her. Her victory would be by no means assured.

So she just stands there, trying to remain calm and a little too confused to act:

"I'm here to offer you a job, Kayo."

The teen's eyes widen considerably. That really wasn't what she was expecting.

It's a rather pleasant surprise considering a few minutes ago, she thought she was about to be dragged off to be tortured for information concerning her uncle. Although, it did open the door to another torrent of questions which she had to ask:

"Do you turn up personally for every recruitment drive?" Kayo questions still suspicious.  
"This isn't just any job offer..." Casey informs her with a knowing smile. "It's a covert operations unit. Top secret, behind enemy lines. The kind of unit which is _off the radar..._ "

Kayo's mind thinks instinctively of some of those rather violent video games which the youngest of the brothers is so fond of. She's never really seen the attraction herself, of video games that is.

Overall, she's not too sure what to make of Colonel Casey's offer. It's not as if she was expecting it. Covert operations would definitely play to her strengths: she's silent, discrete, agile and strong. It's not whether she's capable that causes to her to have doubts, more what she would be asked to do. She's under no illusions, the GDF kill. She's not too sure how she'd feel if she was told to end someone's life.

She must have been looking particularly uncertain, as colonel Casey smiles understandingly.

"It's okay. You have some time to think about it." She turns her back, then stops suddenly. "Oh, and Kayo?"  
"Yes?" She asks still a little shocked.  
"I'd rather you discuss this conversation – if you must – only with Tracys."

Kayo nods slowly. She doesn't exactly have anyone else to share it with. Penny perhaps? She doesn't have time to ponder the question any further, Casey's already vanished. For some reason, the teen suspects that when the time comes to give her answer, the colonel will find her again.

Its several days later, one evening when she finally calls Mr. Tracy. He's never too busy to talk. Well, actually, he probably is but a more accurate way of putting it would be to say, he never lets his work prevent him from talking with any of his charges.

"What's on your mind Kayo?" Jeff asks after a few minutes of banter, a little concerned. "You seem a little off."  
"It's just, the weirdest thing happened the other day..."

She proceeds to tell him about the strange encounter. She doesn't change, edit or alter anything. She's never lied to Mr. Tracy, not seriously at least. As far as she knows, none of the boys have. There's something about their relationship, a trust, which causes them always to tell the truth. Were they to lie anyhow, she suspects that he would sense it almost instantly anyhow?

After she's finished her story, there's a moment's pause. Jeff reflects silently, a serious expression on his face. Finally, after a few minutes, he speaks:

"And what do you think?"  
"I don't know." She lets out in a sigh. "That's why I was calling..."  
"You? Asking for advice on your life choices? Well, this certainly is a first." He declares with a smile. "You honestly want my opinion?"  
"Yes."  
"Well, then, I'll give it to you. I reckon you're too stubborn to let anyone else influence you in any case." Jeff smiles warmly for a few seconds and Kayo returns the gesture. "I think Casey's right, you would be perfect for the job. Now, I'll tell you something which I told Scott before he joined the Air Force. You will be asked to kill. It's not a maybe, you most definitely _will_ be. I'm telling you this from personal experience."

Kayo nods slowly. That's the main thing that's bugging her. Scott had been forced to make the same decision some years prior. She knew it wasn't one to be taken lightly.

Mr. Tracy had once told his youngest son that there was a world of difference between death in a film and in real life, even if you were in a plane a quarter of a mile above who you were targeting. At the time, it had caused Kayo to wonder (although she'd never actually asked) whether or not Jeff had ever killed a man. Now she believed that she had her answer.

Jeff stays silent for a few moments, through the years, he's learned to know her almost if not just as well as his own sons. He's one of the very few people who's ever been able to read her. He knows when she needs a little bit of time to think about something.

"You're still considering it." It's a statement more than anything else.  
"I really don't know." She replies, her voice trailing off.  
"Well, here's one last piece of advice for the evening: whatever you do, make sure that you're 100% sure because if you doubt yourself, it's only going to lead you to trouble."  
"I will Mr. Tracy." She promises.

"Good. Now you get to bed! It's late for a girl with school tomorrow!"

"Okay, goodnight."

He signs off with a smile and leaves her to think about it.

She's not all that inclined to talk about it with the others. She's always preferred keeping this sort of thing close to her chest and dealing with it herself. After all, she figures she's the only one who should be allowed to decide about her future. It's a pity that it's so difficult for her to choose.

Her restlessness only increases as she thinks about Colonel Casey's offer. She's not a big believer in fate or coincidence for that matter but something about this job, she doesn't know why but something deep inside just tells her that it's where she must be.

So, at her graduation ceremony, when she stands next to Virgil, tall and proud, she's not all that surprised to see a familiar figure towards the back of the gathered crowd.

It takes her some effort to be able to slip away from her adoptive family and the tidal wave of congratulations and compliments. When, she finally does manage to slip away from them, with the time honoured excuse of needing to use the restroom, Colonel Casey is waiting for her.

"Kayo Kyrano, reporting for duty." She declares, looking the older woman in the eye.

She doesn't get a reply. Only a small and knowing smile, one which speaks of all of the dangers and difficulties of covert operations.


	20. Training

To be fair, nobody ever said that being a covert operative was going to be easy. Kayo wasn't naïve enough to imagine it herself.

Whether or not she expected to be asked to jump out of a plane was another matter altogether.

 _Well_ , she thinks, _at least I'm flying_. Albeit, she can't see a darn thing! They're in a high flying aircraft, over a remote jungle some place, with no lights, no way of seeing just where they were supposed to be landing; yep, this seems totally safe.

It's fair to say that her training's not exactly been easy.

There's the not quite so physically exhausting stuff at the firing range, the hours of running, jungle survival (although she doesn't mind that one so much), the swimming in full combat gear which she's willing to bet would be difficult for Gordon and her personal favorite, how to resist interrogation. No sir! There's nothing quite like trying to hold your breath in freezing water whilst someone holds you under.

She's learned that her first impression of Casey was a pretty accurate one.

The Colonel's there at quite a lot of their training sessions. She's never accompanied and nobody ever seems to pay her any attention which is unusual considering her rank. She stands there as a spectator, in the shadows watching through cold eyes.

Casey seems to be able to switch her _feeling_ button on and off at will.

She's friendly and welcoming when talking to a fellow commander or someone from outside the GDF, even when congratulating someone – no matter how low their rank – whom she perceives as having done a good job. Kayo's seen her laugh and even crack the odd joke.

That's one of her faces, there's another, darker one though.

It's the one she puts on when she watches them train: cold ice and steel, almost more machine than human. She's there calculating what their chances are of making it through the training, then what they would be like in the field. She seems to be sizing up the trainees, looking at them as weapons in development more than people. Those which aren't good enough are simply sent way. There's no emotion when it comes to their pain and hardship, just a feeling of uncaring reality. The Colonel's almost always standing in the shadows but Kayo sees her.

When she's just had her head yanked back out from a freezing bucket of water and she's gasping for air for the third time in about five minutes and is strongly considering asking them to stop (because they will if she asks, they're not trying to kill her after all). Her stinging eyes will make out the blurry form of Casey. Cold ice meets a burning fire and somehow, the lack of compassion from the Colonel makes her angry, furious even.

She's not sure if Casey did it deliberately but she may very well have found both her greatest strength and weakness: her stubbornness. It makes her bite her tongue to stop her from begging them to stop, she ignores the pain because she wants to prove that she's not weak and that she won't be passed off as just another failure. So, back under the water she goes managing to give one last fiery glare before she's under again.

At the end of the day, it gets her sent to the infirmary: suffering from a mixture of oxygen starvation and a mild case of hypothermia. She passed out, which was only to be expected really. She wakes up with a doctor and a nurse tending to her. She'll be out of the count for a little while but should make a complete recovery.

Wrapped up in warm blankets and with an oxygen mask on her face, her vision's almost as dull and blurry as it was the last time that she was plunged under but she can still make out the figure of the woman standing next to her.

"That was reckless." Casey informs her, her voice flat and cold. "We can't afford to have soldiers throwing their lives away."

Despite everything, Kayo manages a glare and she wonders if Casey knows just how much she hates her. She hates the coldness, the lack of human warmth… But perhaps what bothers Kayo the most, what really causes her to loathe and despise her is the fact that deep down, although she'll never admit it the Colonel scares her and she's always hated being afraid.

It's not the first or the last time that she'll end up visiting the infirmary. She's been there for a broken nose, dislocated shoulder, concussion and most seriously a bullet in her shoulder.

That one earned her a trip back to Tracy Island for a two weeks recuperation. It happened during a live-ammo training exercise with one of her teammates. He panicked, slipped and the next thing she knew, she was bleeding out in the mud. It's a good thing her commander's a level headed man, he quickly gives her some first aid and calls for a helicopter. It went without saying that Casey barely even bat an eyelid when she was carried into the hospital for emergency surgery.

The surgeon who's rather used to dealing with her, says that she must have a guardian angel. Sure enough, by some miracle, the bullet missed her bones, organs and even any major veins and arteries, a very clean wound indeed. Not that that was much comfort to her. She's not quite decided whether to count herself lucky for the lack of severity of the wound or unlucky for being shot in the first place.

In any case, she gets sent back to the Island to recuperate. Which all in all, isn't too bad. Except for the fact that she has to listen to Grandma Tracy lecture her every night as she helps her dress her wound. It's not just the bullet hole but also the other bruises scattered over her body. She passes them off as just part of the job and the older woman decides not to push the point, only muttering a few words about _taking care_.

She spends most of her days resting. It's amazing how tired she is. She's not too sure if it's because of her injury, or just the medicine that she has to take which makes her a little drowsy or simply that she's feeling all of the training that's she's been going through is just taking its toll on her.

She's not usually one for just lazing around but that's pretty much all she's done since she came back. She can easily spend an entire day dozing by the pool. Mr. Tracy and Grandma seem to be rather understanding, leaving her be and not complaining. They do express some concerns however and Jeff periodically threatens to call his physician if she doesn't perk up soon.

"It's not normal for you to be this tired…" He mutters offering her a glass of water.

She doesn't say anything. She knows that he's right but she just can't be bothered arguing. She can't be bothered doing much these days.

She finds that a second wind can come from an unusual source.

She'd been napping outside again, she couldn't have said when she'd fallen asleep, and all that she knew was that it was a particularly warm day. When she wakes up some time later, she's greeted by a rather unexpected sight:

Someone's dragged a fan outside to keep her cool, there's a glass of fresh water with some ice cubes in it waiting for her alongside some of her favorite ice cream. Just how it hasn't melted is beyond her. Curious, she sits up a little from her position on the deckchair. There's a photo too, one which usually sits next to her bed, it's all of them when they were kids sleeping next to Jeff on Christmas.

Strange, did Grandma or Mr. Tracy do this for her?

She finds the answer in the form of a pair of bright blue eyes looking at her from inside the lounge. They're not alone on the island, there's one Tracy who's still got to leave to the outside world. Kayo signals him to come out.

"Did you do this Alan?" She asks him.  
"Yes… Dad and Grandma said you weren't yourself and you've been sleeping a lot, so I thought maybe if I made you happy, you'd get better."

Now Alan can be downright evil sometimes, just like Gordon and he can be a pain too as only a younger sibling can be but she'll admit that he can also be a little angel at times too. He always acts a little funny around her, a little timid and always cutely awkward… She's fairly certain she knows why. They chat a little as she eats her ice cream – or rather takes a few spoons of it and then falls victim to the longing look from the blonde boy who ends up finishing it.

A small smile graces her lips as she thinks about the effort he's gone to.

"Thanks Alan, that was really sweet of you." She tells him.  
"You're going to get better right?" He asks concern marking his voice. "I don't like seeing you like this."  
"Of course I will." She promises getting up fully. "In fact, I think I'm better already."  
"So do want to play, some videogames with me?" His voice suddenly peeps up with excitement.

Videogames? They're really not her thing and she really should avoid- Oh darn, it's those puppy eyes again! _Eyes that big should be illegal_ , she thinks. She tries to put on an eager face as the youngest of the brothers leads her over to the videogames console. Grandma briefly raises an eyebrow before smiling to herself. Before Kayo really knows what's happening, she has a controller virtually thrown into her hands and has to drive some car around a racecourse.

Alan loves every moment of it of course, it's not every day that he manages to con her into playing videogames with him. That and of course he wins. A lot. Okay, ALL THE TIME! Maybe she would have been better if she'd practiced but she has a feeling that it wouldn't have changed that much. She's just never going to be very good at videogames, at least not good enough to beat the family's resident gamer.

"Come on Kayo." Alan encourages her. "You've got to try and stay on the track."  
"Why the Hell are we racing on a rainbow anyway?!" She asks gradually losing patience. "Did these guys take some LSD or something? Maybe it's my meds, I think I'm a lizard racing in an egg."  
"He's a dinosaur and it's supposed to be a little wacky!" Alan replies finishing yet another lap. "Try not to finish last this time!"  
"It's not my fault there are banana peels all over the track!" She snaps back as a response, hitting yet another, she's fairly sure that the computer's lapped her at least twice. "You don't see Formula 1 racers emptying their lunchboxes onto the track whilst racing do you?"  
"It's called being inventive." Alan shrugs his shoulders indifferently.

"Inventive, eh?"

Alan's too emerged in his game to notice the tone of mischief which crept into her voice. Grandma spots it and smiles as she realizes what's about to happen.

As smart and gifted as he is for his age, Alan still has one major weakness: he's unbelievably ticklish. That's something which Kayo's only too willing to take advantage of. She's on him like grease lightning. She aims for the ribs, in a couple of seconds, he's on the floor laughing his head off. She takes no pity, not even when he's bent over double. Of course, she unintentionally gets kicked a couple of times but it's not hard enough to hurt.

A little confused by the sudden outburst of laughter, Jeff comes in. He can't help but smile as he watches his youngest son suffer a terrible tickle attack, he's not too sure if that makes him a bad father or not.

"Kayo! Kayo! Stop! I can't breathe!" Alan eventually begs, she releases him.  
"How's that for _being inventive_?" She asks.  
"We both lost." Alan informs her looking at the screen.  
"It doesn't matter." She replies.  
"It's good to see you back to yourself." Jeff declares, offering both of them a hand up.  
"Just needed a good laugh."

She gives Alan a warm smile and ruffles the unruly blonde mop he calls hair and can't help but chuckle as she notices his blush.

Just why she's thinking of this when she's about to jump out of a plane is beyond her.

She stands on the edge looking down into the darkness. They tell her that they're more than high enough and that down below is clear and it's safe to jump. She's just going to have to take their word for that, because there's no way in Hell she can tell what's down there, she could very well be about to jump into a snake pit for all she can make out.

She's having to strain her ears to be able to hear her commander counting, she's supposed to jump at 30. Unfortunately, the high winds and lashing rain make it virtually impossible for her to hear what he's saying. That and the sound of her heart thumping madly in her chest threatens to drown everything else out.

In theory, she should be safe; she's got a parachute on and it's not as if there are any hostiles down there waiting to shoot her. Still, the idea of jumping is a rather daunting one, especially in weather conditions like this. She had agreed with the rest of the squad when they'd said that that night's exercise would probably be called off due to the storm, they had been wrong.

"29…"

It was now or never. Kayo takes a deep breath and allows herself to tumble forwards as soon as she sees her commander's lips utter the last number.

Then she's in freefall. She's soaking in a matter of moments. The wind and rain make it almost impossible for her to see and she's periodically blinded. She can't even see the ground, that's probably the scariest part. She has no idea when she needs to deploy her chute. Of course, they've been rigged to go off automatically if they're not triggered within a set time window but then that would mean failing the exercise and would lead to her being sent home.

She closes her eyes, counting down mentally. She can't deploy it too soon either or she'd face a similar penalty, not to mention in these winds she could end up being blown so far away from the intended drop sight that she'd be hopelessly lost.

Not yet… Not yet… Almost. Now!

In an instant, her parachute deploys (and she's only too glad). The good news is she's no longer in freefall, the bad news is she's being blown around like a leaf on the wind.

She struggles with all of her might, trying as best as she can to stay on target. Not that she can see where the target is anyway. Suddenly, she becomes aware of the ground beneath her feet. She instinctively rolls to prevent herself from damaging her legs, almost tangling herself in her chute as she does so.

Kayo's quick to unclip from the large piece of fabric, liberating herself. She looks around. There's absolutely no one here. Great! Did she over shoot the landing zone or something? Maybe the others have-

In a flash, she draws her pistol. A human shaped target just popped up from the ground. She fires, taking its head off. Remembering her training, she goes to ground, hiding in the long grass. Minutes treacle by and still nothing… No sign of her allies or other targets, well this is plain old bizarre. Did she miss part of the instructions?

"Not bad at all."

Jesus! Kayo virtually jumps out of her skin, she turns in an instant, pointing her gun to face whoever just crept up behind her.

Why is she not surprised to see Colonel Casey? Why is the woman alone out here in the dark only wearing a uniform which is leading to her becoming soaking? Why is she not even flinching despite having a gun pointed at her head? Why? Why? Why?! Steadily, Kayo lowers the weapon, taking a deep breath.

Then, she remembers rank and stands to attention, giving a salute whilst a part of her wishes that she had pulled the trigger.

"At ease." Casey dismisses her. "I'd like to congratulate you. You passed the test."  
"What test ma'am?" Kayo asks puzzled.  
"You made the grade." The Colonel explains looking up to the sky. "You're a part of the covert operations squad."

Well, that's nice. She wishes that someone had warned her about that earlier. That's supposing that they knew of course. Where are her other squad mates anyhow? Did they get blown away?

Kayo's a little confused, she's wet and still trying to process what Colonel Casey just told her. At least she made the grade, she can be grateful for that much. It means all this effort, all the pain and suffering, they weren't for nothing. Although she's fairly sure that the training might seem positively mild once she really starts work.

"You have two weeks leave." Casey informs her. "I'd make the most of it if I were you. I think the coverts operation squad might find its services required rather soon."

The Colonel begins to walk off, leaving Kayo standing in the middle of the clearing covering in mud and soaked through to the bone, wondering just what she's supposed to do now. It's then that Casey pauses and looks over her shoulder expectantly. Her recruit stares back at her, trying to figure out what's going to happen now.

"Well?"  
"Ma'am?" She repeats.  
"I'm supposing you don't want to stay out here and wash away. Are you coming?"  
"Uh, yeah sure Ma'am…"

Kayo follows her, a little uncertainly. She doesn't know much about Casey and Jeff's always been rather evasive where she's concerned. He assures her that she's a good person but not somebody to be messed with. She should respect and trust her but avoid crossing her at all costs, it has to be said that had he not warned her, she would have done the same anyway.

There's just something about Colonel Casey which screams: get in my way, I'll kill you and I won't even blink.

Still, despite everything, Kayo can't help but speak out as she catches up and walks side by side with the Colonel:

"Ma'am permission to speak freely?"  
"Yes, go ahead Kayo."  
"Sneaking up on someone with a loaded gun seems like a pretty good way to get shot…"

She earns a glare. Followed by the strangest of sounds, the Colonel laughs.

Kayo just blinks and shrugs, unable to understand what on Earth Jeff's old friend finds funny _. Her funeral…_ She thinks to herself.


	21. Dad

_**Thanks again for all the replies.**_

 _ **/**_

She goes back to the Island for her leave. They're only too happy to have her.

A nice two weeks of relaxing, having some time to herself, reminiscing and chatting with the boys.

Sadly, by day three it's apparent that it's not going to happen. Grandma Tracy's away visiting some old friends in Kansas and Jeff's got a party being organized by Tracy Industries. The bad part is he's asked her to come along.

"Mr. Tracy, I don't do these sorts of the things…" Kayo reminds him. "I'm not exactly a _people_ person."  
"I know Kayo and ordinarily I wouldn't ask you to come along but-" His eyes drift over to the two boys mucking around in the pool. "I could really use with some back-up with those two."  
"Another very good reason for me not coming!" She replies going back to her book.

"What so it's not okay for you to suffer but if it's me, then that's fine?"  
"Your kids…" She informs the boy's father. "There's no way in Hell I'm taking those two out somewhere! Not after last time!"

The mere mention of _last time_ , causes Jeff to have to bite his lip to prevent himself from laughing. She still considers it a small miracle that she'd managed to put that N.A.S.A guy out. What was worse was she had gotten the blame for pushing him in the fountain. Admittedly, Grandma had politely reminded her that in the case of a small, isolated fire nowhere dangerous, a glass of water would have worked just as well.

"They might be my kids…" Jeff replies giving her a knowing smile. "But they're also your brothers."  
"What are you getting at?" She raises an eyebrow not liking the grin on the senior Tracy's face.  
"Oh, nothing, nothing…" He assures her suddenly reading his newspaper once more. "Just thinking, it would be a shame if I misplaced the spare set of keys for your room and the boys found them…"  
"You wouldn't!"

He just smiles.

She's always been very particular about her room. She doesn't let people in there, not even her brothers. It's not as if she has much in her room anyhow, seeing as she's never really been a materialistic person. Everything is neat, tidy and ordered. The last thing she wants is Alan and Gordon (who's on spring break) going through her stuff because she just knows they'll wreck the joint.

Jeff's threat hits its mark. She grumbles something under her breath, causing him to look up.

"What was that young lady?"  
"I called you a wretched old man." She replies getting to her feet.

"Yeah, I bet you did…"

She leaves Jeff outside with his scotch and newspaper. She'd better go and see if she's got anything to wear. With any luck, she won't have anything suited for a black tie event and won't be able to come along…

Darn it! She'd forgotten about that dress! She lets out a frustrated sigh and pinches the bridge of her nose: looks like she doing this thing.

She'll always find it amusing that she knows how to fix Alan's bowtie better than she does to do up her own hair. It takes her a good few minutes, several tries and watching a video on the internet before she finds herself looking just about presentable.

She walks out into the lounge, Jeff's just finishing locking everything up. An odd habit, burglary is hardly much of a problem on their little island. Gordon and Alan are chatting excitedly, looking forwards to the chance to come along to a party, even if it is one of their father's business ones and it's likely to be considerably duller than what they'd usually enjoy.

"You look really pretty Kayo." Alan mutters under his breath, seeing her enter the room.  
"Thank you Alan." She smiles fondly.  
"I didn't think that you'd come." Gordon declares tugging at his collar which he considers to be too tight. "Don't you usually hate this kind of thing?"  
"I was given an offer I couldn't refuse." She replies giving Jeff a knowing (and still mildly annoyed look).  
"Shall we go?" He suggests. "You'll see, you'll enjoy it."

She's not too convinced but decides that she had better behave herself.

Honestly, she usually does. Kayo has never liked to feel like a hassle or a burden to her adoptive family, so she doesn't like to be difficult. Which is probably why she's accepted to go along, she would probably have said _yes_ even if Mr. Tracy hadn't have threatened her. After all, she knows just how much of a handful the two terror twins can be.

They get on board the plane. Jeff quickly reminds his two youngest sons of the safety procedures before turning to Kayo.

"You want to fly?" He offers.  
"Really?!"  
"Sure. You can handle it."

Jeff taught them how to fly when they were about 14, he considered it important as he didn't want to be in positon where if anything happened to him, they would be stranded on the island and unable to leave. As a result, she had been able to fly this thing and had had a pilot's license for quite some time now, although, she'd never actually been permitted to fly the plane on an occasion such as this with passengers in it.

Apparently, Jeff was a little traumatized after Scott preformed a barrel role whilst behind the controls of his private jet. That would have been bad enough were it not for the fact that he had been with some of his business colleagues, who had been at the bar… And who hadn't been expecting the plane to turn upside down.

Kayo was willing to bet that the senior Tracy had had a few words to say to his oldest son about that particular stunt.

Fortunately, she's not about to waste this opportunity and makes sure Jeff doesn't regret leaving her the controls. Even through the headset, she can hear him chatting with his boys, he probably doesn't do it enough and this is a good chance for them to have some father/son bonding time.

They touch down and make it to the venue in good time.

Jeff doesn't like being late, especially not to something he's organized but they arrive just as things are almost finished being set up. It gives them a chance to freshen up a little and for Jeff to give both of his boys a few reminders, tips and guidelines.

"Come on you three. Let's have your _'_ _we want to be here and are enjoying ourselves'_ smiles." He frowns slightly upon seeing the result before checking around him. "Well, I don't think that too many mirrors were broken. I suppose it'll have to do, try to enjoy yourselves."

Easier said than done.

It's later when the guests start to arrive. It's the usual crowd, business associates, lawyers and bankers… They don't all work for Tracy industries, many of them are from separate companies but it never hurts a potential future deal to have them around. Many of them are millionaires in their own rights but they don't quite fall into the same category as Jeff Tracy.

Kayo has had the dubious honour of attending many of these gatherings and mingling with the _'_ _high society'_ as they're often called. She smiles and remains polite (when she's not dousing out C. on fire that is) but it's not her scene. She's never comfortable. Jeff quickly picked up on this hence, why she hasn't been made to go to one in quite some time.

Still, at least today she has a purpose. Even if it is to keep an eye on the two youngest Tracys. Alan's timid, as he often is around such large crowds and thankfully stays rather close to her. It's Gordon she's more concerned about; sure, he might not try any of his pranks here but that doesn't mean he's not capable of getting into trouble or embarrassing the family in some way.

What worries her right now is that she can't see him. Jeff's talking to some contractor and she's not about to go and disturb him. No, she'll solve this little mystery by herself.

Someone places their hand on her shoulder. She jumps. Her training kicks in and despite the dress she adopts a fighting stance curtsy of her intensive training. She finds herself face to face with a familiar blonde woman.

"Penny?!" She's a little surprised.  
"Hello, Kayo."

She's not met Penny in the flesh in a few years. She's gotten older; an obvious thing to notice but despite the fact they've kept in touch via hologram, it's something she notices none–the-less. The Lady gives her a smile. Kayo's eyes quickly spot her father already chatting amicably with Jeff at the other side of the room.

"It's been a while." Is all that Kayo can't think to say.  
"It definitely has. The last time we talked you had just been shot through the shoulder." Penny chuckles slightly. "And decidedly irritable too."  
"Sorry, I was having a rough time." She apologizes remembering the events.  
"No need to apologize, I would be a little grumpy too if I'd just been shot."

"How's life been treating you?"

They chat for a few moments. Penny's doing well. She mentions a new chauffeur, some guy called Parker. Apparently he's a little- different to your usual butler but she doesn't go into specifics.

It's then of course that Gordon turns up. He's not looking where he's going, distracted by something which Kayo can't even see and it goes without saying that he collides with Penny and manages to spill his drink all over her pristine dress. She lets out a surprised and annoyed gasp, realizing that it's most definitely going to stain.

"Ooh… Sorry there!" Gordon could sound a little more sincere in Kayo's opinion and less like a joke.  
"No. Problem." Penny mutters through gritted teeth mustering all of her self-control and calm.

"Uh, Penny… This is Gordon Tracy and this is Alan."

She looks up and gives the elder of the two boys a glare which says: _I don't care who you are_. Kayo's rather impressed that her friend's managed to keep her cool the way that she has. She supposes that Penny's been raised not to start arguments or fights in public but so has she, it's not as if Jeff encourages any of them to get into a fight but had it been her that Gordon had collided with, she might just have just had a few things to say to him.

The blonde manages a smile despite the damage done to her dress.

"I haven't seen you at one of these things in some time." Penny informs her.  
"Yeah… Not really my scene." She explains casting a glance around the room. "But someone had to keep an eye on these two…"  
"Ah, babysitting."

The comment earns a torrent of complaints from the two boys which causes the two young women to chuckle a little, figures they wouldn't like to be referred to as kids. Then again, Kayo doubts that she would ever have liked the idea of say Scott babysitting her.

She comes up with a rather ingenious way of distracting both Gordon and Alan. There's an all you can eat buffet table and at the moment, both of them are pretty much bottomless pits. So she dumps them there, keeping an eye on them of course for a few minutes, just to make sure. The food seems to work and it should keep them distracted for a while, at least she hopes so.

"I tell you what Kayo." Penny tells her looking at the state of her dress. "I'm just going to go change. I'll be back in a few moments, okay?"  
"You brought a spare dress?" Kayo asks surprised.  
"Of course." Penelope winks knowingly. "Always be prepared."

Penny must think far ahead and plan for every potential situation because there's no way she could have foreseen this.

Alone, Kayo finds herself wondering a little aimlessly. This really isn't her favorite sort of environment. She finds crowds a little daunting. She had to get used to them when she was in high school but since then between her training and the island, she's not used to having to deal this amount of people. She's much happier alone or in the company a few people she knows well. All this chitter chatter and gossip doesn't suit her at all.

So, she chooses to hang back, staying near a statue of some great man she's never heard of, she'd like to go into the garden and hang out there for a little while. Anything the escape this hustle and bustle but she promised Jeff that she'd keep an eye on the boys…

She looks around the room, she can't see the senior Tracy any more.

"Sorry for dragging you into this." Comes a voice from behind her.  
"Jesus!" She only just manages to muffle her surprised cry. "Don't do that Mr. Tracy! I almost blew Colonel Casey's head off the other day for sneaking up on me."  
"She did that even back in my day." Jeff recalls with a vague smile. "I always told her it was dangerous. I don't know why she does it."  
"She'll get herself killed…" Kayo mutters through clenched teeth.  
"Maybe… She talked about you." Jeff informs her to Kayo's surprise, she didn't know they still talked. "Said you were just about the most stubborn and reckless recruit she'd ever had."  
"Yep, I hear that a lot…" She replies a little bitterly.  
"Also said you were one of the bravest and most naturally talented."

Kayo blinks a couple of times, such praise doesn't sound much like the Colonel that she knows. Usually, the best that she ever gets is a list of improvements which need to be made: if she's lucky, that list might be a little shorter some days than others. She wonders when the Colonel and Mr. Tracy talk, she's never witnessed any of their conversations but she's always been cautious about criticizing Casey when Jeff's around.

She's not sure how close they are but she gets the feeling that the two of them are genuine friends. She should have guessed that they'd keep each other informed:

"I heard you've getting sent on your first mission in a few weeks." Jeff continues.  
"Yeah… I don't know any of the details yet though." She confesses looking down at her feet.  
"Nervous?" Kayo only nods as a response. "So was I…"  
"I don't know what I'm more afraid of…" Kayo laughs slightly trying to change the subject. "Getting sent to the danger zone or having to face a crowd like this."

Jeff chuckles and nods in agreement.

He's told her several times that he doesn't much like this sort of even either. It can be easy to forget that Jeff Tracy, one of if not the richest man in the world comes from a humble background and lived the first years of his life on a farm in Kansas. This sort of crowd can daunt him to, although he's mastered the art of putting on a mask and blending into the lot, like he's done this all of his life. He doesn't mind all of it but she's known him to have rants about many of the party guests at the end of these events and he usually ends up using some rather colorful language to describe them.

She's visited the old Tracy ranch in Kansas. They went there on holiday when she was 14. Nobody lives there anymore but Jeff never could part with it. He rents the land out to various tenants and had a cleaner come in every now and then to keep the place clean and stop it from falling apart. Oddly enough, it's not that strange to imagine a younger Mr. Tracy living there but it's most certainly far removed from the life they know on the Island.

They spend a few moments contemplating the crowd in silence, before Jeff turns to her:

"You know what the best way to deal with fear is of course?"  
"What?"  
"To face up to them." He replies with a broad grin, taking her hand and leading her back into the crowd.  
"Oh no you don't!" She protests tugging back slightly.

"Come on Kayo, you can't sit there by yourself all evening." He argues releasing her slightly as they come over to join a conversation. "You never know, you might end up enjoying yourself."  
"I hate you right now…" Kayo hisses quietly.  
"So long as you don't draw a gun…" Jeff chuckles to himself.

He's going to be teasing her for a while about this, she can tell.

She forces a smile as she faces a group of Jeff's 'friends', actually, she doesn't have a clue who anyone other than his secretary is. She's okay, not someone Kayo's ever really spent much time with but a decent person as far as she can tell. As for the others, well they could very well be Martians for all that she knows.

Jeff starts chatting again. It takes her a second to remember to introduce herself.

"Kayo Kyrano." She replies shaking a couple of hands.

People have heard of her but they don't really know who she is. She's vaguely aware (largely because of Lady Penelope informing her) that there are a fair amount of rumors circulating concerning her. She's not exactly in the public eye, which suits her rather well but oddly, that can made the rumor mill even worse.

Someone, somewhere at one of these events had once suggested that she might be an illegitimate daughter of Jeff's. Somehow, the head of Tracy industries had gotten wind of the supposed gossip and had flown into a rage, the likes of which she'd rarely seen him in. He had perceived it not only as an insult to himself but also to Kayo and perhaps more severely to the memories of both her parents and his own wife Lucy.

Gossip and rumors were two very good reasons for her to avoid such evenings. Still, now that she was here, she'd better deal with it: there was no use crying over spilt milk after all.

"So, what's your line of work Miss. Kyrano?" Asks a man wearing an expensive looking blue suit.  
"I'm in the Global Defense Force." She replies trying not to look frustrated.  
"Field work?" He looks astonished.

 _Actually I'm being trained as a covert operative and will be expected to kill someone, probably in a few weeks when my unit and I get shipped out to whatever forsaken place the G.D.F and my psychopathic commander needs us._

"Just a desk job." She lies. "Logistics."

It's the answer she's been trained to give. A lie to be certain but Colonel Casey wants even the existence of her unit to be kept top secret. That's why on any file anyone could access, she was registered as having a rather simple and boring job working far away from any of the actual action. It's an answer that comforts people, for some reason, she gets the feeling that the truth might raise a few eyebrows.

They talk some more about business and Kayo just wishes time would speed up so that she could leave. She's even wishing that Gordon and Alan would cause some mischief, that they would do something, anything that would give her an excuse to go and intervene in. Suddenly, the idea of having her head forced into a pale of freezing water seems rather appealing, it would probably have the same mind numbing effect that's for sure!

"Still not any better?" Jeff questions as they leave the group they had been talking to.

"I'm sorry, I think my brain's gone back to the Island to preserve itself." She replies.  
"Gone to join your patience, has it?" Mr. Tracy asks amused by her frustration before cutting her short sensing that she was about to give him a few choice words. "Mind your tongue! My mother would have washed my mouth out with soap if I'd have said half the things you kids do!"  
"… She's a scary woman." Is all Kayo can think to reply.  
"It's taken you 11 years to realize that, has it?" Jeff chuckles to himself. "Why I remember when, I was a young lad, not much older than Gordon, she-"  
" _Jeff_!"

Kayo cringes, just the tone of whoever this is grates on her nerves.

There's a man coming towards them, accompanied by a beautiful young woman who might just have come off of a catwalk. She recognizes him, he runs a rival company to Jeff's, his name's Yorke? Mitchel? Michael? Something like that. She's surprised that he was invited tonight. From what she's gathered, the two don't exactly see eye to eye. Yorke's more of a jet set playboy type and has recently inherited his company from his father.

She sees a little line appear in the corner of Jeff's mouth as he offers his hand, a sure sign he's forcing the smile.

"Mr. Yorke."  
"Please, call me Malcom." _Near enough_.  
"Okay… I'm glad you're here." Jeff replies, that little line on his face deepening slightly. "I thought you were busy with our mining operation?"  
"I'll always make time for these sorts of things." He tells him, with a broad smile. "Although I have to admit, that mine back in Malaysia is a real moneymaker. It's a pity that fire started…"

Kayo tenses up slightly. It was his company which had taken over the mine that Jeff had been working on back when she was a child. Sure enough, they made a fortune. She's never had the heart to go back, even looking at pictures brings back too many painful memories. There's a little memorial there now, to those who lost their lives, her parents' names feature alongside the others.

Yorke can't know Jeff that well. Anyone who did would know that when he clenches his teeth like that, it means he's nearing the end of his patience and you'd better back off and leave him alone.

"Oh!" He seems to have noticed her standing there, a little uneasy. "You're not alone! She's pretty, where'd you find her?"

Kayo sees red. She's not sure she's ever been so insulted or angry in her life. It takes a lot for her not to lash out and punch Yorke's teeth out. A couple of deep breaths and she's no longer contemplating physical violence - well, she is but she's realized it's only going to land her in trouble. A piece of her mind though, that's something she's only too willing to give him.

Sadly, Jeff beats her to the punch.

"This is my daughter." His voice is remarkably flat and calm. "Kayo."

Yorke looks rather surprised. Kayo manages to hide it but she's a little taken aback herself.

He's never called himself that before. She's always referred to him as Mr. Tracy something which people from outside the family have commented on before as being a little odd. She couldn't think of a word to use to define their relationship even if she was forced to. Father though or daughter have never before been used. She blinks a couple of times, surprised.

"Adopted." Jeff clarifies after a few moments, again, not strictly true. He was only her legal guardian and he's not even that anymore.  
"Right…" Yorke seems a little distracted for a few moments. "Well, I must be going then… See you around Jeff."

Kayo's not too sorry to see the back of him. She's still a little shaken. She knows that there are some less likeable people in the world and she's fairly certain he's one of them. She closes her eyes, taking a couple of deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself. Jeff places a hand comfortingly on her shoulder, a look of kind understanding in his eyes.

"You okay?" He asks in a gentle voice.  
"Yes." She replies shaking her head briefly. "He's a real jerk that guy…"  
"If at any point in the future you need some target practice…" Jeff whispers quietly to her once they've gone. "Might I suggest Mr. Yorke?"  
"It'll be hard to miss with his big head." Kayo laughs.

Jeff chuckles too. They stay silent for a few more moments as they contemplate the gathered crowd. Finally, she lets out a frustrated sigh:

"I suppose that we're not done yet."  
"I'm afraid not." Jeff smiles understandingly. "No… Think you can keep the act up?"  
"Of course… _Dad_."

It's a joke.

Her father's name isn't Jeff Tracy, it was Kyrano but he's gone now. Jeff's not her dad but he almost is. There aren't words to describe what he is to her. Still, _dad_ will do for those who don't quite understand…


	22. War days

_**Sorry for the slightly late reply and thanks for the reviews! :) I'll admit that this is an unusually large chapter.**_

/

Tomorrow's the day.

It's her first mission. Her first time in the danger zone and she's pretty darn terrified.

It's not technically a war. She's not too sure what to call it. A rebel group causing trouble in some country she's pretty sure that most people couldn't even place on a map but apparently the locals need their help and that's ultimately why the Global Defense Force was created, they're meant to deal with things like this.

There are quite a few of them there. Not just G.D.F but several squadrons from the world's various Air Forces have been called in to provide some assistance.

Apparently, they're supposed to be relaxing, having a good time and trying to forget about what they'll be doing this time tomorrow. Most of the others are: there's some music playing, drinks and a game of soccer going on some place… She can see several of her squad mates either drinking or dancing but she doesn't really have the heart to join in.

This is her first time ever where she's going to be in the line of fire and having already been shot once, albeit not very severely, she's not all that willing to repeat the experience. She knows full well that whilst last time she escaped relatively unscathed, half an inch in pretty much any direction could have been potentially life threatening or crippling.

She's young, the youngest in her squad and she doesn't want to be killed. She knows that not many people do but the idea that this time tomorrow, she might be lying in a box or held captive some place and tortured leaves her a little sick.

Some of her friends from her squad have tried encouraging her to take part in the rest of the activities so as to take her mind off of what tomorrow might bring but she just can't.

She's seen death. She remembers the screams of some of the workers that night that everything burnt. She knows there's no coming back and she doesn't feel ready to join their ranks quite yet.

She lets out a sigh, slowly slushing the contents of her drink around in her glass. It's orange juice. She's never really enjoyed the flavor of alcohol much, not that they're supplying much tonight.

She remembers as a teen, sneaking a sip of Jeff's scotch with Scott, John and Virgil, just to see what it was like. They'd all almost instantly spat it out, discovering that the strong liquor seemed to burn their mouths and throats. Grandma had discovered them but hadn't been too harsh, after all, their experiment had been their own punishment and Kayo had suffered from a sore throat for quite some time afterwards.

She wants to be back on the island. She finds herself wishing that she'd spoken to the rest of her adoptive family one more time, she wants to tell them that she loves them… She hadn't at the time because she didn't want to worry them. Now, that selflessness is slowly wearing thin as it's eroded by her own fears and doubts.

"Hey… You seem a little glum. Want a drink?"  
"I've already got one." Kayo replied not even bothering to turn around to see who's talking to her.  
"I meant a real drink." The voice, a young man laughs.  
"Urgh…"

She doesn't even try to hide her frustration. She does not feel like being chatted up tonight. She's not all that fond of flirting at the best of times but with everything she's got on her mind at the moment, well, she's a little irritable and is already nearing the end of her rope with whoever this guy is. To her surprise and annoyance, he doesn't quite get the message and sits next to her. She responds by turning her back completely, if he doesn't get the message now, she'll punch him.

"I'll take that as a _no_ …" The man laughs.  
"Look." She summons what little patience she has left at her disposal. "It's nothing personal but I'm really not in the mood for-"

She stops dead, her green eyes widen as they meet a pair of rather amused blue ones. She hadn't thought. She'd never imagined… Because she hadn't even thought of it as a possibility, she hadn't recognized his voice. She blushes a bright shade of pink, looking away momentarily: she doesn't know whether to slap him for not telling her as soon as he saw her or pull him in for a hug.

"Scott!" She eventually manages.

He laughs warmly. Her initial coldness is instantly forgotten as the two reunite. She hasn't seen him in quite some time and for a brief moment hesitates. His usual charming smile decides her however as he gives him a hug.

She's never been a very tactile person. There's no particular reason why but if someone grabs her arm, or tries to push her aside gently; she usually backs away rather quickly or flinches, as if they'd somehow hurt her. It's always been different with her family though, especially hugs, there's something about them which make her feel warm inside and safe. She feels as if inside of their arms nothing can happen to her and it's like all the wrongs of the world, suddenly just vanish.

Maybe that's why she's a little slow pulling away from Scott. She's scarred right now, although she tries her best to hide it and the presence of the young man who's been like a big brother to her, makes her feel a little better. He seems to sense her anxiety as he holds her a little closer than he would normally.

When she finally pulls away, she finds herself noticing that she's had to prop herself up higher than usual on her tiptoes.

"Who gave you permission to grow?!" She asks him teasingly. "I thought you'd stopped when you were 18!"  
"So did I…" He confesses amused. "Tallest member of my squadron…"

"I didn't know you were here!"

"Hey! I didn't know either!" Scott informs her. "If it weren't for Colonel Casey, I never would have known!"

"Colonel Casey?" Kayo repeats a little surprised.

She nods towards the entrance of the room. Sure enough, the Colonel is standing there in her uniform. She gives Kayo a discrete little nod and the go ahead to continue chatting with her friend. Kayo bows her head slightly in recognition, she knows that when she looks back, Casey will have vanished but she'll probably still be watching someplace.

It's good to see Scott. It's been too long. With him away at the Air Force, she's only ever able to chat with him through holograms and it's really not the same thing. There's not enough warmth and humanity and too much static and pixels for her liking.

They chat for a little while about everything and nothing. Scott asks after his family and how she's doing and she wants to know what it's like in the Air Force and what he's been up to. She wants to know if she made the right decision.

He makes her laugh with tales of mishaps and near-disasters which turned out alright in the end. She's heard most of them before but somehow they still amuse. He wants to hear about her. Of course he's interested in whether or not she's enjoying herself and what it's like even if, unfortunately the secrecy of her unit means she can't tell him as much as she would want to but this is Scott and whenever he's involved, there's sure to be a certain amount of smother-hening added in.

"I heard you got shot."

"Yeah…" She recalls a little bitterly, not wanting to think about it when she knows that they'll potentially be bullets whizzing around her tomorrow.

"That heal up okay?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure you should be-"

"Scott…" She cuts him short.

He smiles.

His brothers tease him frequently enough about it for him to know that it's a problem. Well, he doesn't see it as a problem so much as his exerting his right as an older brother to ensure that all of his younger siblings are okay, even when it's obvious to everyone else that they're absolutely fine. It's odd because Jeff never does it, maybe that's why Scott believes it's his duty to be the worrier of the family.

In any case, Kayo's not about to put up with it tonight. Not when all she wants is a friend to keep her company.

"I'm perfectly fine." She gestures at her shoulder, even pulling down her shirt slightly to show him the wound. "See, it's healed over. There wasn't all that much damage. Besides, Colonel Casey wouldn't let me get sent into action unless she thought I was 100%."

"Cares about you that much, eh?" Scott raises an eyebrow.

"More like she doesn't want me to be a liability…"

"Well, I'm sorry." He apologizes putting one of his arms around her shoulders. "You know me, a smother hen to the end."

Kayo laughs briefly, agreeing with him.

Then she remembers where she is and what's going to happen tomorrow. She's afraid that this'll be the last time she gets to laugh with Scott, the last time she gets to laugh with anyone. It's like a shadow passes over her face as she becomes serious and glum once more. The eldest of the brothers picks up on this. He looks at her sympathetically before letting out a sigh.

"First time in action?" He guesses giving her a knowing look.

"Yeah…" She replies, her mouth a little dry.

"Nervous?" Scott asks. She only shrugs, her pride preventing her from fully admitting the truth. "I was downright terrified first time I got sent in. I think most people are."

"How many times?" She questions him.

"Well, this'll be the third time." He counts on his fingers. "You're always dead scarred but don't worry, you'll be alright."

Kayo nods. She's not all that convinced herself, how can Scott Tracy – a mere mortal – possibly guarantee her safety when she's faced with potentially thousands of bullets each of which would be only too capable of killing her? She knows that when it comes down to it, it's only going to be her own skill and maybe a little bit of luck which make the difference between her living and dying but she's afraid she'll be unlucky, that the guys they're supposed to be fighting will have someone better than her or that her skills simply won't be enough.

Scott must have sensed her remaining doubts as he holds her a little closer.

"I'll be your eye in the sky." He promises her. "You'll see, I won't let anything happen to you."

"Thanks…" She mutters quietly before looking up at him. "I'll look after you too."

"Like we always do." Scott reminds her. "We all look after each other."

She smiles, taking some comfort in his words. A silence settles in as they watch the rest of their squad mates, allies and friends dancing and having fun. She's glad Scott's here, his presence gives her some much needed comfort and a feeling that she's not alone in facing tomorrow. She had always been able to rely on Scott, he had his moments but ultimately, she doesn't doubt his willingness to help and protect her and the rest of his family for even one second.

"Come on!" He declares suddenly, getting to his feet and taking her hand.

"What?" She asks a little surprised as she drags towards the crowd. "No! Scott!"

"Aw, come on Kayo. A little dancing never hurt anybody." He tells her, still not letting go. "It'll help you relax, you'll see."

"Scott-" She speaks firmly, digging her heels into the ground. "I don't dance!"

"But you can right?" Scott turns back to look at her. "I remember Grandma and Dad teaching you."

"Yes, but-"

"Aw please…"

The Tracy boys are rather too good at wrapping people around their fingers for Kayo's liking. With Alan, it's the pouty face, Gordon's eyes seem to be able to quadruple in size, Virgil's serenading has yet to fail, John can easily trap someone in a circle of logic leaving them powerless and when it comes to Scott, he's a master of charming smiles.

It's darn near impossible to say _no_ to him when he's mustered one of his truly brilliant smiles, like the one he's wearing right now.

She rolls her eyes but stops struggling. Scott was right, a little dance clears her head and calms her or at least it takes her mind off things. She even finds herself laughing.

She only sees Scott once again. When it gets too late some of the commanding officers including Colonel Casey turn up and tell them to get to bed.

Kayo turns in bidding her old friend _goodnight_ and promising to catch up with him fully after the fighting is over. She falls asleep quickly but finds herself restless and waking up throughout the night none-the-less.

It's not even dawn before her squad is up and ready. They're to be dropped before the sun is up so as to take advantage of the darkness. Their plan, not hers. She's used to carrying the equipment but a loaded gun still feels strange and deep down, she hopes it always will. They head out onto the runway, it's raining heavily. Their craft is fueled and ready.

It's then that she spots Scott. It's only a brief glance and under the rain and darkness, she barely even recognizes him. He's dressed head to foot in pilot's gear and is getting ready to climb into his jet. He pauses however, not very professional of him and gives her a salute, wishing her all the best. She can only manage a nod as a reply.

He boards their dropship. It should be a quick and simple operation. Get behind the enemy lines and take them down. It's textbook really, the sort of thing they've always trained for.

It's a rather bumpy take off and flight. The high winds and driving rain make for less than ideal conditions. If that wasn't bad enough, there's thunder and lightning too. They're flying through a veritable storm. After a few moments, a voice echoes out over their radio:

"This is Eagle leader. We'll be escorting you to the drop-off point…" There's a brief pause as even more lightning cuts through the night. "The skies are a little rough tonight…"

Now, there's an understatement. Kayo's not used to such turbulence, they were definitely being shaken up. This would most definitely make for an interesting landing… She's summoning all of her courage. Maybe she's a little arrogant but she's always thought of herself as being brave, so to suddenly be so afraid is an unpleasant feeling for her.

It doesn't take long, they're dropped off in a small clearing. Kayo's second off of their ship and almost as soon as they are outside, she wishes that she was back on board in the dry. She lets out a brief sigh before accepting that she's here now. She's got to get her head in the game if she wants to avoid having it blown off.

She turns to her commander who gives them some signals to follow him. They've barely made it twenty yards before the sky is lit up once more this time with a far more sinister glow. Fires and an explosion cast illuminate in the night's sky. It's one of the jets that had been accompanying them, gone in a blaze of fire. Even the commander, who's been in the wars can't help but stare in horror.

God, please not Scott…

There's a distant sound of gunfire, anti-aircraft by the sounds of it. That wasn't supposed to happen. Nobody was supposed to know where they were or where they were going. They shouldn't have been ready. That plane shouldn't have been shot down.

"This is Eagle 3!" It's Scott's voice over the radio, still somehow remarkably calm. "We are under heavy anti-aircraft fire! Eagle Leader is down. Repeat. Eagle Leader is down."

There's a scrambled message from the other side, something about getting the Hell out of there. Now, the lightning must face up to the manmade flashes of gunfire. Reinforcements are coming. So much for this being a discrete operation. Still, there's a chance that they don't know about the covert squad. She hopes they don't, otherwise they're in trouble.

She turns back to her commander who is back to his usual in control self.

"We can't do anything for them." He declares turning his back. "And we're at risk if we stay here. Move out!"

Kayo doesn't argue… The only way that she can help Scott now is if she completes her part of the mission.

The rain's not stopped all day. The ground barely even qualifies as mud anymore, it's so wet. Still they struggle on. Kayo waits patiently for her commander to manage to get a signal through to the base. They need a pick-up.

The mission's been as much of a success as it can be. What was meant to be a simple stealth mission has turned into a full out battle between the G.D.F and their enemies. This isn't what they're supposed to deal with and now they need out. Unfortunately, the weather's making even just communicating a downright nightmare. They've been trying for the best part of ten minutes and still no reply comes.

Kayo's standing there. Soaked to the bone, covered in mud, scratches and a little blood and freezing cold. She's still alive though, she supposes that she should be grateful for that much. It's more than some people can say for themselves following today.

Finally, they get through. It's clear from the commotion on the other end of the line that it's a pretty hectic in central command. Still, they're promised some pick up. The anti-air canons have been cleared apparently which is making transport understandably a lot easier. Good, all she wants to go in and have a nice warm shower.

It's pretty much the first thing she does as soon as she gets the chance. The warm water washes away the day's mud, dirt and blood and warms her slightly. She closes her eyes and allows herself to slump down. Jeff had warned her, he'd told her what it was like to take another's life just before she'd signed up. She wasn't even completely sure that she'd killed the man, he was far away when she'd fired and although he'd disappeared into the undergrowth she couldn't have said whether or not he'd ran or collapsed.

That doubt in her mind caused her some pain. More than she thought it would. She rests her head against one of the walls. _Come on Kayo, pull yourself together…_ She tells herself.

"Kayo…"

Her eyes dart up to see Colonel Casey. A little bit of privacy would be nice… She might have said something were it not for the look in the Colonel's eyes. For the first time ever, she sees some genuine concern maybe even a little fear. Something's wrong. Any anger and resentment that she might have had suddenly vanish, replaced with worry and fear of her own.

She's never know Casey to be shaken, she doesn't know of anybody who has. So whatever's happened, she knows it's not good.

"It's Scott…"

There's two worlds in a tone of voice that she never wants to hear again. She's out of the showers and dressed in less than two minutes, rushing down the corridor of the base with the Colonel. Well, Casey's not rushing per-say, she never rushes but she is walking noticeably faster than she would do ordinarily.

They enter the infirmary. Around them are the wounded who are being tended to. Kayo's been here before or at least to a similar one but never during a conflict and things are a lot bloodier… Casey walks on through, giving the wounded sympathetic looks and telling a nurse that he's doing a good job.

She pauses outside the doors to a new ward for a moment, turning to look to Kayo, her expression grave.

"He's badly hurt Kayo." Casey tells her. "He just got out of surgery and we had to give him a blood transfusion. He's sleeping and in all likelihood won't wake up for a fair while yet… He's lucky to be alive."

"I understand…"

Her heart's in her mouth as she steps through the doors. She doesn't know what she'll find, or rather what sort of a state Scott will be in.

There's a part of her which doesn't want to see. She wishes she could go back to her bed and hide under the covers. She wishes that Colonel Casey hadn't told her. She wants to be able to keep on kidding herself that he's okay and that he'll just walk through the door any time soon. Then she reminds herself that no amount of wishing is going to change the fact that right now, Scott Tracy is hurt and she's the only one here for him.

She steps on through.

She's greeted with a sight which causes her blood to turn cold: Scott Tracy is lying in a hospital bed, visibly unconscious. He's hooked up to various machines to monitor his vitals as well as a drip which pumps various fluids and medicine into his system. Even from where she's standing, she can hear his strained and heavy breathing, the good news is he's doing that much for himself.

Slowly and cautiously, Kayo makes her way over to his bed. His chest is almost completely bandaged up and he has another bandage around his head indicating a concussion. She spends a couple of moments simply contemplating him in silence.

It's the first time she's ever seen him look so weak and so vulnerable. Scott's always been there for them. He's the oldest brother, the one who looks out for them and protects them. It's the job he's given himself, even if they don't always thank him for it. Suddenly, to have the positions reversed is destabilizing to stay the least and she doesn't quite know what to do…

"Wh-What happened?" She asks in a trembling voice.

"His plane was shot down." Casey explains. "He had just enough time to eject, most of his injuries were caused by shrapnel after his craft exploded. He was protecting some of the rescue vehicles. I wouldn't be surprised if he's given the medal of valour."

 _A fat lot of good that's going to do him like this…_ Kayo can't help but think to herself.

She wants him to wake up, to pull out the drip, remove his bandages and tell her it was all a joke _à la Gordon_. She wouldn't be angry – well, not very. Okay, she'd be downright furious but it would still be better than this…

She kneels down next to his bed and takes his hand in hers. She wonders if he feels it, if he's even aware that she's there.

"I've already informed Jeff." Casey continues. "He'll be here as soon as possible but considering this is still a combat zone, there's no civilian flights allowed at the moment."

"Is it okay if I stay with him for a while?" Kayo requests in a quiet voice.

"Of course…" She couldn't have sworn it but Casey's voice seems a little softer than usual. "That's why I brought you here."

She doesn't respond. The day's fighting has taken a lot out of her and now this… She feels unbelievably tired. She wants to look away and try and forget the fate that has befallen her friend but she can't, Scott's still there lucky to be alive and suffering. She hopes he knows that she's here, that somehow despite not being awake to acknowledge her, her presence gives him some comfort.

Casey spends a moment more watching her before slowly making her way towards the door but Kayo has one last question for her:

"He will live though-" She asks fearfully. "Right?"

Colonel Casey hesitates for a couple of moments. She can't tell if it's a single word or a sentence which hangs on the edge of her commanding officer's tongue, she almost says something but decides against it. Instead, she places a hand on her shoulder and squeezes slightly. It's the first time that Kayo's ever really seen a more human side to the older woman and sadly, it's also a time when she can't say ' _thank you_ ' or rather isn't in the right state of mind to do so.

Casey vanishes again without another word. She's got other things to deal with and sadly can't afford the time to wait until one young man wakes up, if he ever does. Not when so many other lives depend on her.

Her lack of an answer is as good as one for Kayo though: they're not sure.

They've done all they can for him and now it's up to him. She's no doctor and certainly not a miracle worker, so she can't help him either, at least not physically. What she can do though is stay there with him and keep him company, so that hopefully, somehow, he knows that he's not alone. It's not much but it's all that she can do.

She can't lose Scott. She can't lose any of her adoptive family. She's already lost more than her due and more than anyone should ever have to. If she could, she would switch places with him. If things had been a little different, she could very well have been flying alongside him. Letting out a sigh, she rests her head cautiously on the side of the bed.

One of the nurses is kind enough to get her a chair. Hours go by and still no change. He could just be sleeping, he looks so peaceful but the blood and bandages tell another story all together. It's nosy and busy, the medical staff are rushed off of their feet having to deal with all of the wounded even if the flow of new arrivals is starting to slow, hopefully a sign that the fighting is winding down now.

Despite the passing hours, she remains firmly by Scott's side. She holds his hand, the one which doesn't have a drip in it that is and stays awake for as long as she can but eventually exhaustion gets the better of her and she finds herself drifting off.

When she wakes up, sunlight is coming through the blinds. She looks around a little confused and wondering just what time it is, early morning she guesses.

"Hey there…" Comes a weak and wheezy voice.

She looks to see Scott awake, his blue eyes are half open and fixing her with a dull awareness. He looks a little drowsy probably because of a mixture between the medication, his ordeal, just waking up and the concussion. Frankly, she's amazed that he can even manage to think let alone speak.

She offers him a smile. Now comes the hard part: trying not to let him know just how damn terrified she was.

"You're awake." She notes, earning a weak smile. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I just got hit by a truck." He replies looking at the machines for a moment. "Last thing I remember- My plane!"

"Easy there…" Kayo advises gently pushing him back down. "You'll hurt yourself."

"Sorry…" He catches his breath for a couple of moments. "Are you okay?"

She can't help but smile. Typical Scott, he's lying on a hospital bed and came a little too close to death for anyone's liking and one of first things that he wants to know is if she's okay. In a way, it's charming.

Kayo has to think her answer through a little. Is she okay? Physically, she escaped with only a couple of scratches and a few bruises but that's only part of the story. She was scared half to death, both whilst she was out there and then once more when she came here only to learn that he was seriously hurt. In that respect, she's most definitely not okay.

She hesitates a couple of seconds. How can she tell him that she thinks she might have killed a man? Has he ever claimed a life? She lets out a sigh.

"I'm still alive." Is what she eventually goes for. "Mr. Tracy's on the way."

"With Grandma?" Scott asks a little concerned.

"No, I think you're safe." She hesitates a moment, noticing how tired he looks. "I'd better leave you in peace, you need your rest."

"No." He raises his hand in an attempt to grab her but is too weak to do so. She stops none-the-less. "Please, Kayo… Could you stay?"

She's not used to that sort of request, especially not from Scott. A quick look in his eyes confirms what she thought she's heard in his voice; he's a little frightened. Her mind flashes back to her own time in hospital when she was a little girl; being left alone and in pain was a pretty scary experience, Jeff had kept her company back then. One good turn deserved another and she's most definitely going to return the favor to his eldest son.

"Okay…" She replies sitting in the chair next to him.

"Thanks… I-" His voice trails off for a second. "I haven't really been in a hospital like this since I was a kid. Not since the avalanche…"

He doesn't need to tell her anything else. She understands. She'd thought something similar during her several little stays at the infirmary back at their old base. She gently takes his hand and gives him a slight smile.

She keeps him company for a good few hours. Slowly, he's regaining some of his strength and the nurses are only too happy that he's awake. She does a lot of talking because he's not able to. She's not usually this chatty but today's not a usual day. She recalls a lot of their old antics back at high school with _'_ _do you remember..?'_ s and _'_ _that time'_ s. Scott occasionally chips in although he's a little too weak to do so properly so contents himself with smiling.

It's that evening when the door opens and Jeff rushes in accompanied by both John and Virgil. They stop seeing the two of them. Scott finds himself surrounded by more of his family. Alan and Gordon are going to give him hell for this, which will be comparatively moderate compared to what Grandma Tracy's likely to unleash…

Kayo gives them some space and smiles fondly. There's something comforting about a family reunion...


	23. Nights out

_**Sorry for the slow update! I got caught up with other stuff. Thanks for the reviews, as always!**_

 _ **/**_

Most people like to let their hair down from time to time.

Kayo is no exception and neither are her adoptive brothers.

With Scott fully recovered from his ordeal a few months earlier. Virgil back from college. John on holiday and her on leave, this is one of the first times they've all been together in quite some time and they're intent on making the most of it.

So when Virgil casually suggests a trip to London. They all jump on the opportunity, even John sounds pretty excited about the idea. It doesn't take much to convince Jeff, although the prospect of being left alone on the island with only his mother and two youngest sons for company visibly causes him to shudder.

Still, he lets them go, after all, as a father he knows he's got to make a few sacrifices and it's only for a few days.

So they take the jet and set course for London. Kayo loves the boys, she really does but sometimes Alan and Gordon are best dealt with in small doses and alone. She's missed spending time with the three older brothers, it's like their old high school days.

They spend most of their trip chatting and exchanging stories of their various experiences post-graduation. They all seem to be enjoying themselves. John thinks he might be in space soon. Scott ought to be back in the air in another month or so. Virgil's got a girlfriend he's clearly head over heels for…

They touch down at the airport and emerge with a certain amount of jetlag.

It takes two minutes before they start wondering why they came to this island in August when they could have gone anywhere else in the world. It's decidedly chilly, raining and damp. They come from an island in the South Pacific, this climate doesn't suit them much. They seriously consider heading to Spain or Italy instead but they remember that they promised to visit Penny whilst they were here.

The first day, they don't do much. They're wet and cold and suffering from jet lag. Instead they plan their trip. Despite the family's vast fortune, they've decided to do things a little differently and try and go on a lower budget holiday. Hence, why they were in a standard hotel as opposed to a 5 star one.

They map out the attractions and things to see before turning in early.

The following morning, they're up bright and early and in the restaurant for breakfast. She discovers that one thing hasn't changed about any of the older Tracy brothers: they can all eat twice their body weight. It's quite impressive to watch. Gordon and Alan are the same. They can easily shovel down plate load after plate load and seemingly never quite be full. She bets that right now the hotel regrets offering an "all you can eat breakfast buffet".

"Just think you guys!" Virgil declares wolfing down his third piece of toast practically in one. "Five days without Grandma's cooking!"  
"Thank God…" John lets out a relieved sigh. "You know, she sent this cake to my N.A.S.A training camp? Well, I know better than to eat it but this guy, he saw it lying there and asked if he could-"  
"Oh no please John, you couldn't have been so cruel!" Kayo is appalled by where the story was going.  
"Look. The way I saw it, the guy needed to lose weight anyway!" John shrugs indifferently. "I can guarantee you that he didn't eat any more cakes after that!"

They all agree that John's the worst person on Earth.

They start off on their sightseeing trip around London. Grandma Tracy insisted that they take plenty of photos. They go to the Tower of London, stand by Tower Bridge and take a trip on the London Eye. They pay a visit to a couple of art galleries for Virgil and the Science Museum for John.

It takes them a few days. Every evening, they send the pictures and few video clips that they've taken that day back to the Island and to an amused Mr. Tracy, Grandma and two very jealous little brothers.

It's Thursday when they decide to go to a club. The next day they're due to meet Penelope.

Kayo's not used to going to clubs. She doesn't really get the chance where her job in concerned and she's never been overly fond of the atmosphere. She makes an exception today however and goes along with the boys.

They find a table and sit, chatting idly amongst themselves. It's been so long since they were all together, they never seem to be short of subjects to talk about. They order a few drinks and then a few more.

"So where's your next destination Kayo?" Virgil asks, finishing his third beer.

"Sorry Virg, I can't tell you." She apologizes taking a swig of her own. "Military secrets and all."

"Don't take it personally." Scott advises his younger brother. "I was supposed to be their escort and they told me almost nothing!"

"I'd tell you if I could." She defends herself. "Could we talk about something other than work, please?"

"Okay…" Virgil's voice trails off. "So John, who's this waitress I hear you were flirting with?"

He turns as red as a beetroot. John has never liked talking about his private life, especially not where romance is concerned and it's true that he's not the most romantic man in the world. In fact, over the years, he's grown so good at hiding his feelings sometimes his entire family can not realize that he has a girlfriend or is interested in someone.

They tease him for a few moments but stop when they sense that he's becoming annoyed and move on to teasing another member of their group.

They've been there a few hours when Kayo realizes something: she's giggling way too much. It's an odd thing which suddenly occurs to her as she reacts to one of John's comments which actually probably wasn't all that funny when you think about it. She's laughing even as she thinks this.

She's clear headed enough to realize it's probably the drink. Her fears are confirmed when she stumbles slightly getting up to go to the toilet in order to freshen up. She collides with Virgil who only laughs once he realizes she's not hurt, along with the other brothers.

"I have never seen you tipsy!" Scott declares swaying slightly.

"It's not the first time…" Kayo replies straightening herself.

She's been a little tipsy before, in fact, downright drunk once. As far as she can recall, she's not too bad although she remembers being a little too silly for her liking. So she's not planning on becoming drunk again tonight, so she calls it a night where the drinks are concerned.

Unfortunately, the boys it would seem aren't so sensible. They have another round and another and another. Kayo enjoys their company laughing and joking with them up until a certain point.

That point is when John gets nasty. They're not the targets but rather some poor random stranger whose probably had a little too much himself and collides with the table. She's never heard John let rip with language like that before and for a moment, she just sits there too shocked to speak. Rather than call him back into line like she expected him to Scott just laughs and Virgil doesn't even react.

She apologizes quickly before giving John a glare. She's never seen him like this before and has a fair idea what might have caused the outburst.

"No more drinks guys." She puts her foot down.

They grumble a lot. Fortunately, she's able to ask the barman not to give them any more alcohol even if they beg and for a while they're okay.

Then she turns her back. It's only a split second, there was some commotion at the entrance of the club. When she looks back John's vanished. His two brothers either haven't noticed or don't care. Virgil's just sitting there like a rock and Scott has a ridiculous grin plastered all over his face and looks as if he could fall off of his chair at any moment.

"Where's John gone?" She asks them a little concerned.

"Dunno…" Scott suddenly laughs to himself. "Hey, Kayo, are you an alien?"

"What?" _What's this got to do with anything?_ "No."

"'Cause you just abducted my heart!" He continues laughing hysterically to himself whilst she rolls her eyes.

"Pull yourself together!" She snaps hoping that the anger in her voice will remind him who he's talking to. "Where's John gone?"

"If I could rearrange the alphabet, I'd put _U_ and _I_ together…" Is all the response that she gets.

She rolls her eyes and struggles with the urge to slap him. She should definitely record this and use it as blackmail material later. It would certainly give her some leverage over the three of them.

Unfortunately, she isn't entirely sober herself and she really doesn't want to have to answer the barrage of questions which Jeff would ask if he ever saw such a video. She decides against it and leaves the boys to themselves, at least for a little while whilst she tries to find John, wherever he's wondered off to.

She was going to check the toilets assuming that the drinks might have had a rather unpleasant effect on his stomach. She doesn't know how often he drinks but unless he's changed a lot since the last time she met him, she can't imagine John Tracy being the type to regularly partake in binges. Which means he's likely to be feeling the effects…

It's then that she hears a fair amount of yelling from a few feet away. She turns around to see a familiar redhead picking a fight with probably the largest (maybe second only to Virgil) guy in the joint. John's put on a bit of muscle since joining NASA but not enough to be able to take on the lump he's yelling at and win.

She decides to intervene before John is given a black eye.

"Oh, wow!" She rushes up and grabs the second brother's arm. "You found my brother. Thank you! Come on John!"

"This isn't over! Just you wait! I'll rip your eyes out and use them as ping pong balls!"

Whoa, angry John is… Well, Kayo's never seen him like this. She makes a mental note never to let him have anything much stronger than root beer again.

She drags him back over to the table. He's grumbling something about being able to take the other guy on… She's half tempted to let him go and to see what happens. She gives it ten seconds before he'd be on the floor. With John back at the table, Kayo comes to the realization that now Scott has vanished.

Thankfully, she spots him rather quickly chatting up a blonde at the counter. She turns to Virgil, he hasn't moved an inch since all this madness started, although there's something about that odd grin he's wearing which tells her he's not all that sober either.

"Virg, you'd better keep an eye on him." Kayo instructs him. "Or else I'll get creative with some chewing gum and a couple of your masterpieces. Understood?"

She'll take the blank look that he gives her to mean: okay.

Having lost most of her patience already, she's not very diplomatic when it comes to tackling Scott. She simply grabs him by the ear and physically pulls him off of the chair that he was sitting on, not caring too much if he's in pain.

She remembers Grandma dragging her like that once despite Jeff's protestations. She'd gotten rather muddy outside and had come straight inside leaving a trail of mud through the living room. She was fourteen years old at the time.

"I think it's about time we left…" She mutters looking at the state of the three boys. "You can sleep this off back at the hotel."

"Hey, Kayo-"

"One more pick-up line Scott and I swear your plane crash will seem positively mild." She growls lowly as a warning.

"Okay…" He leaves a couple of moments' pause. "-Then I'll sing!"

Despite a kick to the shin he doesn't stop. She lets out a pained grown before deciding that she needs to get them outside where hopefully they'll annoy less people and be a little more manageable. If she doesn't do anything they're going to get kicked out that's for sure.

She drags a still singing Scott up to the counter whilst his brothers join him. The bill's a bit of an unpleasant surprise, especially because the three boys aren't in any state to chip in. Maybe this is some ingenious ploy. Still, she pays up and manages to get them outside. Now what? She'd like to take them back to the hotel but she's afraid they'll get lost in transit if she tries to get them to take the public transport.

That and she's beginning to feel a little unwell. She's not too sure if it's just because of the fact she's close to throttling her three brothers or if it's the booze talking. In any case, she'd rather not risk a taxi's interior, at least not for a few minutes.

She's not too sure where to go, so sets off in a random direction. The boys follow her as well as the sound of music. Scott's no musician but he can carry a tune, mostly, she's fairly sure that the drunken ramblings of even the greatest singer isn't aren't going to sound like much.

Eventually, they sit down by a fountain taking advantage of the fact that nobody seems to be in this particular square. She has no idea where they are but at least, the brothers shouldn't be able to cause too much trouble. With any luck, they'll be getting drowsy soon. That'll make them easier to handle.

She manages to get the four of them sitting down on the edge of the fountain and for a few minutes, there's a relative calm silence and Kayo is able to let out a sigh of relief. She says silence, Scott's still singing passages from the Miserables of all things.

"It's a good thing Mr. Tracy's not here." She tells them. "Can you imagine what he'd say?"

She's a little sleepy. It's been a tiring few days and she's always found that alcohol makes her drowsy. It's made worse by the presence of her brothers, despite their drunken state, they are comforting none-the-less.

She closes her eyes for a couple of seconds, literally almost nothing. What a mistake.

The sound of shouting causes her to jump awake. Disorientated, it takes her a few moments to realize what's happening and another few to believe it. Virgil's in the fountain, floating around on his back without a care in the world. Scott's marching around reciting Shakespeare and John's picked a fight with some random passers-by.

She lets out a groan, convinced that she must have done something in some other life to deserve this.

Priorities. Scott's harmless. For the moment, Virgil's in no danger of drowning. John however might be about to start a fight. She'll deal with him first. God knows why he took exception to this particular couple, they seem ordinary enough. He's shouting at them at the top of his lungs and not using particularly good language either. At this rate somebody's going to call the cops.

She rushes over standing between them. The poor couple look completely baffled, they've probably grasped that he's drunk as they try to step around him but he's rather good at blocking them. Kayo earns a grateful smile as she intervenes. She's a little more cautious with John, she doesn't want to risk his anger turning against her. It's not that she doesn't think that she could beat him in a fight but she'd rather it not come to that.

"Come on, John!' She turns around dragging him with her. "Damn it! Scott get down from there!"

Ten minutes of pure anarchy is what she's exposed to.

She realizes that she's in over her head. As soon as she thinks she's got one of the brothers under control, she'll turn around to find the other one doing something silly.

It's Virgil who finally pushes her into the fountain. He who had been so calm and relatively well behaved. She realizes that it was all just a ploy. When she sits down on the fountain with her head hanging low as John continues to hurl obscenities at passing traffic and Scott finishes off another verse of Romeo and Juliet, professing his love to a fire hydrant. She doesn't notice the middle brother coming towards her until it's too late and she's in the drink.

"Virgil Grissom Tracy!" She shouts at him, spitting out some water.

It's then that she spots the car. It's an official one with blue lights although fortunately they're not flashing. Kayo recognizes the uniforms instantly and lets out a sigh. This is obviously just going to be one of those nights…

She wakes up dry and warm and urgh… Does she ever feel rotten! Letting out a groan, she slowly opens up her eyes. There was a part of her which was hoping to either be back on Tracy Island or at least in the hotel. No such luck… Actually, she hasn't the foggiest where she is and these- These aren't her clothes!

She sits upright, looking around alarmed. She knows that waking up with a hangover in a strange place is never a good sign. She's somewhat relieved not to find herself in a stranger's bed. Although the young woman in a blue uniform coming towards her carrying a mug of steaming hot coffee isn't exactly what she hoped to see either.

Slowly the events of the night before come back to her:

"Oh no…" She mutters rubbing her eyes.

"Good morning to you too miss!" The officer replies not entirely amused.

"Sorry, I didn't mean that…" Kayo apologizes hastily. "I'm a little-"

"It's okay." The officer offers her the coffee. "I reckon you've not got it half as bad as those boys you were with…"

"Thank you… Where are they?" She questions noticing their absence. "Where am I for that matter?"

She'd fallen asleep sprawled out over two chairs. It wasn't all that comfortable but she suspects that a mixture of alcohol and exhaustion had enabled her to overlook that one inconvenience. This looks like a police station and this woman looks an awful lot like a police officer in that uniform and those lights on that car last night were decidedly reminiscent of a police car…

Jeff was going to kill them. No 'ifs', 'ands' or 'buts' about it…

"The police station miss." _I want to be buried._ She thinks to herself.

"What about my brothers?"

"They're your brothers?" The officer looks a little surprised, she shrugs to say that it's complicated. "They're in some of the overnight cells, they were rather rowdy."

"Why aren't I?" She asks before adding as an afterthought. "Not that I'm complaining."

"Well, you were a little tipsy but not completely drunk. The cells are currently full and since you actually helped us with those three we thought you could just sleep it off there."

Kayo's not entirely unhappy with their decision. Considering how rowdy the boys were last night, she's willing to bet that they're probably regretting it this morning and not just because they're behind bars… She can't help but feel a little sorry for them.

This isn't exactly where she planned on ending up on her holiday… Her sudden sympathy towards Scott, John and Virgil is replaced with frustration and anger. They should have known better! She doesn't know English law too well but she imagines that they'll have let Jeff know. The only hope that she has is that they're all adults legally, maybe that means they won't contact Mr. Tracy.

"What now?" She asks a little nervous.

She's somewhat relieved to hear that they're not going to court. The 200£ fine is something she could have done without though. Especially when it's for all three of the brothers. Jeff's going to love this…

Still, they're rather relieved to be out of the station or at least she is. The boys are sluggish to say the least, each nursing a rather bad hangover. Kayo lets out a sympathetic sigh and does the only thing she thinks she can do. She calls for help. From the only person she thinks might be capable of giving it to her.

To say that the police offers look surprised when a bright pink limousine pulls up outside would be an understatement. Their jaws are practically on the pavement as Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward steps out accompanied by her butler. She looks serious and business-like as always. After a few polite greetings, she comes over to Kayo.

"It's good to see you again!"

"You too…" Kayo hesitates a few moments before adding. "Sorry for calling."

"No problem." Penny chuckles softly. "From the sound of it, you certainly need some help. Where are the boys?"

"See that bench over there?" Kayo nods a few feet away. "They're sitting there and feeling sorry for themselves."

"Oh well, we can't have that. Let's get them back to the mansion, they can sleep it off there."

They virtually have to help each of the boys to the car. This an experience that Kayo never wants to have to relive in her life. Although Penny seems to be rather amused by the whole thing, it's none the less rather humiliating for her friend to have to call her in for help dealing with her hungover brothers.

They have to stop twice on the way to the Creighton-Ward manor as Scott threatened to puke, fortunately a breath of fresh air seems to be enough to calm his nausea and they're soon on their way once more. The boys don't talk much, clearly feeling the after-effects of the previous night's drinking.

They get them into the manor and guide them to three of the numerous guestrooms. Kayo suspects that the brothers are going to be sleeping for quite some time. They get a couple of muffled _'_ _thank you'_ s and that's about it. Almost as soon as the doors are shut, they can hear some snoring.

Kayo practically collapses into one of the couches in the living room under Penny's bemused gaze.

"Rough night?" The aristocrat asks sitting down in an armchair.

"Doesn't quite cut it." Kayo replies closing her eyes. "Thanks for coming to the rescue Penny."  
"No problem. You sounded rather desperate on the phone."  
"You have no idea what it was like."

She proceeds to tell Penelope of the previous night's events. She doesn't earn any sympathy but rather laughs, which despite her best attempts the Lady can't quite hold back. It irritates Kayo yet for some reason, the further the story progresses, the more she finds herself chuckling along with her friend.

Of course, whether or not Jeff will be the same is another matter entirely.

"It certainly sounds like you went through a lot." Penny eventually comments after hearing all of her woes.

"Let's just say I'd rather never do it again." Kayo mutters looking up at the ceiling. "Thanks for coming to the rescue though. You didn't have to go too far out of your way did you?"

"No." Penny assures her with a warm smile. "But I tell you what, you can make it up to me."

Kayo turns to look at her. It's the first time that she's ever asked for a favour to be returned. Suddenly she's a little worried, if Penny starts wanting her favours repaid then she's going to be at it for a long time. She tries to remember how many times she's called in the London aristocrat for some assistance of one kind or another…

A warm smile graces her lips, reassuring her somewhat.

"You up for a girl's night out?"  
"No drinks involved?"  
"Nothing more than some tea…"

Kayo smiles and agrees, after last, she could do with a bit of relaxation with no booze involved.


	24. Thunderbirds

_**Sorry again for the delay and thanks for the reviews!**_

 _ **/**_

Kayo stretches out as far as the small cockpit of the private jet will allow which isn't all that much.

She likes flying. Being a passenger? Less so.

The only reason she's letting Scott fly is because she just got back from a mission in South America and hasn't slept in two days.

She just wants to throw herself into her bed on Tracy Island and fall asleep for the next week. Strangely though, she doesn't get the feeling that she's going to be able to do so today.

"Maybe it's nothing serious." She suggests to her pilot breaking the silence.

"Are you kidding?!" Scott asks her. "Dad would never call us back unless it was something serious!"

Kayo can only agree.

Jeff is an influential man. He's one of, if not the richest person on the planet and has contacts both political, financial and military to help him. If he wanted to, he might very well be able to run the joint. Fortunately, he doesn't use his riches for such purposes…

Actually, come to think of it, she doesn't really know what he uses his billions for. He gives millions to various charities but even that is only a spit in the ocean compared to how much Tracy industries earns in a matter of days. He certainly doesn't spend it himself, that's for sure. It must just be getting stockpiled in the world's biggest bank account…

In any case, he's used that influence to get both her and Scott some extra time on leave, so long as they use it to visit the island.

She was rather surprised to find Scott waiting for her at her GDF base, doubly so when he told her Jeff wanted them back home. He had no answers as to why and despite their best attempts to get the senior Tracy to tell them, so far they remain clueless.

They touch down but aren't greeted by the usual fanfare which is Alan. Instead, they step out of the jet by themselves and walk across the tarmac and towards the villa. They exchange uncertain glances before Scott gives her a nod, he's thinking it too.

Everything is too quiet. There should be noise of some sort of another: Alan's whining about his homework, Grandma complaining about the state of the house or Jeff asking for peace and quiet whilst he tried to talk to someone on a different continent over the phone. This silence is unnatural for Tracy Island, indeed Kayo suspects it's never been this quiet since they moved here. Something is wrong and if it's an attack they'd better be ready.

Kayo opens the door just a crack to peer through and see if they've got unwanted guests. Nothing. The room is empty. They step through and look around, this is darn right strange and concerning.

"Where is everybody?" Scott asks her keeping his voice hushed.

"I don't know…" She confesses. "This is giving me the creeps."

They tiptoe through the house, searching for signs of life. The kettle's on indicating that people are here but then where are they? A light coming from Jeff's office draws their attention. By now, they're on red alert. Kayo cautiously draws the handgun she was issued by the G.D.F, Jeff swore he'd kick her off the island is she ever drew it without a real reason but she believes that the current circumstances are what Jeff would have defined as "exceptional".

Scott opens the door.

It's a good thing that Kayo has quick reflexes and had been trained to analyze a situation otherwise that could have been the end of well over half of the Tracy family.

She has no idea what they're all doing in Jeff's office and has just enough time to hide her weapon. She hopes Mr. Tracy didn't see it, otherwise she's for the high jump. If he did, he doesn't react only offering them a friendly smile. Grandma is the first one to officially greet them though, if it can be called such a thing…

"Well now, if it isn't just Top Gun and Rambo. What took you two so long?"  
"We were wondering where you were, Grandma." Scott explains stepping into the room.

There are a few warm reunions. In the scheme of things, it hasn't been too long since they last saw each other and they all make an effort to stay in contact. If there's one thing that leaving home has taught Kayo though, it's that no matter how much time you spend chatting over holograms and the phone, there's nothing like being together in the flesh.

Alan's growing. God, he better not outgrow her. She's never been taller than John and certainly not Scott. Virgil quickly shot up once he reached puberty but it's now standing shorter than Gordon which frustrates her, somewhere in her mind, he's always been the second youngest and is a good few years younger than her. So when he's suddenly a few inches taller, well it doesn't exactly sit well with her pride.

Still, she figures she might as well get used to it. Short of cutting off their knees, she can't exactly change their height. Hm… Maybe there's some merit to the idea.

Before she can ponder the concept any further, Jeff decides he's going to explain just what they are all doing there.

"I know this is a little unusual for you all and you're probably wondering what's going on. So I'll cur straight to the chase." Jeff gets up from his desk and paces up and down once. "I'm going to make you all an offer and before I tell you what it is, I want you all to know that it's completely optional. Whatever you do, don't say 'yes', if you have even the slightest doubt. Understood?"

"Yes..." Comes the reply from the increasingly concerned and curious group of teens and young adults.

He comes back over to the table and brings up five very distinct holograms. Kayo frowns, she's never seen anything quite like these ships; at least she presumes that's what they are. They look like they've come right out from a sci-fi movie. The boys are just as curious, although from the looks of things, Jeff's already ran this one past his mother as she simply contemplates from afar.

He gives them time to admire each of the vessels.

"We're calling them Thunderbirds." Jeff tells them, drawing their attention back to him once more.

"What are they?" Scott asks, his eyes shifting from his father back to the ships. "Some sort of jetfighter?"  
"Quite the opposite." The boy's father replies, his expression unreadable. "They're rescue vehicles. Each specially designed for a specific task."

He talks the group through each of the craft's specifics. They've got the world's fastest aircraft, one capable of carrying and lifting incredible weights, a rocket far superior to anything N.A.S.A or the G.D.F have, the most advanced submarine ever created and a space station which is almost a century ahead of it's time.

Jeff didn't invent these things. He's a brilliant man, with a fine nose for business (that's gotten him where he is today) and he sure knows his way around mechanics, even advanced ones but he couldn't come up with this. Someone else, probably a large team have developed this…

"The ships you are looking at were designed by Hiram Hackenbacker, one of the most brilliant minds the human race has ever produced."  
"I've heard of him." John replies thoughtfully before turning back to Jeff. "Are you planning to build these ships, dad?"

"That rather depends on you six." Jeff replies.

They all look to him surprised, not quite sure if they've misheard. Jeff lets out a sigh and sits down behind his desk. There's a grave expression on his face, as he looks at them each individually, contemplating them, considering how far they've come. Somewhere in the back of his mind, they're all still that same manic bunch of kids he could never quite call to heel. Yet here they are, adults – for the most part, he has some reservations about Gordon and there's no way in Hell Alan's piloting one of the ships without supervision.

He lets out a slight sigh. Now comes the difficult part.

"These ships are rescue vessels but imagine what they could do if they fell into the wrong hands? I'm not even necessarily talking about a madman but if the Thunderbirds were to be weaponized…"  
"What your father's trying to say-" Grandma Tracy decides to help her son. "Is that the only way to make sure the Thunderbirds wouldn't be used for anything other than rescuing is to keep it a family secret."

"What I'm asking you to do." Jeff clarifies somehow managing to give them all the impression that he's looking each of them dead in the eye. "I want you to be the Thunderbirds' pilots."

There's a chorus of ' _Yeah_ 's and ' _Sweet_ 's from the two youngest. Scott, John and Virgil however remain silent, exchanging a few uncertain looks amongst each other and looking to Kayo. She too is speechless and doesn't know quite what to make of it.

Alan and Gordon are practically dancing around the room with excitement, already imagining what it's going to be like to pilot one of the ships. Jeff however isn't about to let them get ahead of themselves, he knows that all is not certain.

"Calm down boys." Their father requests.  
"But-" Alan starts, his eyes wide and sparkling. "This is all so _huge_."

"It's also very theoretical." Jeff tells his son. "Nothing's certain yet…"

"What's keeping us?" Gordon asks looking around. "Let's go ahead and build these things."  
"Gordon, you're forgetting something." Grandma steps in.

"What?" The two youngest chime in together.

"Your brothers and sisters…" Grandma turns to look at John, Scott, Virgil and Kayo. "They're different, they've got their own lives. It's a lot to ask them to suddenly give that all that up."

"That and don't be under any illusions, this isn't just a fun pastime! It's a lifelong commitment and you can't just opt out of it if you get bored!" Jeff's tone is harsh but this is serious and he's not about to tolerate any foolishness from his youngest boys. "It's serious… I'm not going to dance around the fact that you'll probably be putting your lives on the line on a regular basis."

They don't speak, allowing the silence to confirm Grandma Tracy's statement.

Scott's career as a pilot has really taken-off (no pun intended) despite his injuries and being shot out of the sky in a blazing ball of fire. John's going to work for N.A.S.A and there's no doubting that he's going to be big. Virgil's got a serious girlfriend and is doing well on his engineering course. She's got her own life too, it's a little more complicated and well uh, there's a lot of running around lost parts of the planet with camo paint on her face but she worked hard to get there, it almost killed her.

It's a lot to give up… Jeff knows this.

"I want you all to go to your rooms." The father of the house requests. "Take as much time as you want. Think it over. No communicating! I want this to be your own decision and not influenced by each other. If there isn't total unanimity, it's not happening."

"Why not?" Gordon questions raising an eyebrow.

"Because it's not fair to ask one of you to have to keep that sort of thing a secret." Jeff explains. "Go on now and don't be afraid to say 'no', it's a big ask."

They march off, slowly, all six of them. Not a word is exchanged between them as they enter their rooms.

Kayo for her part finds her mind to be strangely blank as she tries to put everything back together in her mind. She looks around the room, not knowing what else to do. It's not been touched since she last left, asides grandma's dusting that is and she has a knack for putting everything back exactly where it was to the millimeter.

To save lives or to not save lives? That's what the question basically boils down to. Of course it's made more complicated by the fact that they'll be risking their lives, that in itself isn't much of an issue for her or Scott, they do it routinely enough anyhow. The main issue is that they'll be signing off the rest of their lives to an organization where they won't get any credit, no one will even know their names. It occurs to her that it will make regular interaction with the mainland practically impossible. This will be their home now but it'll be more, it'll also be their work base.

She lets out a sigh and allows herself to fall down on her bed and look up at the ceiling. She honestly doesn't know what she's going to do. She wants to say _'_ _yes'_ , it's the right thing to do and the moral choice but… It's a lot to give up. At least with her G.D.F job she could live a normal life or at least relatively so. It wouldn't just be her job though, it would mean her entire life devoted to the Thunderbirds…

Kayo's eyes drift around her room. It's rather plain but everything that she does have is kept preciously. She still has that pair of roller-skates she got for Christmas that year, they don't fit her anymore of course but she's kept them none-the-less, she's not sure if that qualifies her as a hoarder or not… There's a photo besides her bed, in a nice silver frame. She's asleep, next to all five of the brothers and Jeff. Grandma was the photographer.

She owes them so much. Sometimes, she imagines what it would have been like if Mr. Tracy had said _'_ _no'_ to those social workers and nurses all those years ago. She would have ended up in an orphanage no doubt, perhaps it wouldn't have been a bad place but she would still have been alone. Thinking of all those possibilities, especially when she was away from home, made her homesick, terribly homesick… She'd awaken with the sudden urge to talk to them, to hear their voices…

She would have died without them. Maybe not literally but she's not sure if she would have been able to come out of it the same way. She's got her issues, they all know that, she doesn't think that anyone could live through what she did and come out unscathed but for every scar, every little tick or irrational response, they're there for her.

How many don't have that chance? How many suffer from disasters and lose their loved ones? How many could she save if she said _'_ _yes'_?

She reaches for a stuffed toy which has also been with her for more than half of her life now.

"What would you do?" She asks him in a soft voice.

It's a good hour and a half until she finally emerges from her room. She makes her way silently through the corridor. She knocks on the door to Jeff's office. He is able to differentiate between the entire household just going on their knocks, she's not too sure how he does it. Perhaps he has a camera outside the door… In any case, he calls out:

"Come on in Kayo."

Jeff's waiting for her. He's as patient as can be and unbelievably calm. She's sure it's just an act but it makes it a little easier for her. She keeps a straight face, business-like and professional just like when she walked up to colonel Casey at her high school graduation. She feels the same, she knows that this is potentially going to be a turning point in her life and all she has to say for it is two words.

"I'm in."

"Are you sure?" Jeff asks her.

"One hundred percent." She assures him.

She earns a small smile. It's enough to let her know that Jeff's rather pleased with her decision and leads her to believe that whatever answers he's received previously, if any, were also affirmative. There's no need to say anything else, only to wait. She returns to the living room to find Alan and Gordon. Both look up expectantly but one look from her lets them know that she won't tell them the answer that they gave Jeff.

She's far from sure what the other brothers will say and whilst there's not much doubt in anyone's mind about whether or not the two youngest accepted the chance to be given control of the most advanced craft ever designed by man. John, Scott and Virgil are another kettle of fish altogether though, as Grandma said, they have their own lives it's a lot to ask them to give up. She wouldn't be at all surprised if they refused, she wouldn't even blame them.

To keep the two youngest occupied and in order to prevent them from getting fractious and making too much noise, she agrees to tell them both stories of some of her adventures. Alan in particular is always nagging her to tell him some. She's never all that keen, she's a firm believer in the past being in the past. She doesn't really see why anyone would be interested in her stories. Then she remembers sitting with the boys when they were younger and nagging Jeff to hear about his days as an astronaut and she understands a little more.

It's a little later that Scott finally emerges. They don't ask him what he said. They switch from stories to twister, a game she has always been able to beat them at, so long as they play fair which with Gordon involved is almost guaranteed not to happen. The second youngest always has a trick up his sleeve and some of them are positively illegal!

Virgil and John are the last two to emerge and both can't help but laugh at the muddle their brothers and sister seem to have gotten themselves into.

"Do you need a crowbar or something?" Virgil offers looking at the mess.

"Perhaps some butter or grease." John suggests smiling maliciously.

"I always found that tickles help." Jeff declares coming into the room. "Uh, Scott can you breathe like that?"

"No…" Comes the muffled response.

"Then straighten yourself out!" Jeff snaps at his son before a smile creeps onto his face. "We can you suffocating before you've even flown a Thunderbird."

Their heads snap around (as much as Twister will allow) at the realization of what Jeff's implying. Unanimity, they're actually going through with this.

Oddly though, instead of calming things down, it only raises another barrage of questions. Most of them Kayo admits are pretty valid, some are stupid though, she's not too sure that the color of their uniforms is a priority at the moment. There's a lot of excited chatter which drowns out everything else in the room for a few moments, Jeff doesn't do anything to stop them though, smiling knowingly to his mother.

He lets the excitement and chaos continue for another few moments before deciding to bring them all back under control.

"All right you lot…" He chuckles briefly. "It's like Christmas morning all over again!"

"Yeah but with spaceships." Alan replies with awe.

"Spaceships… Yeah…" Something occurs to Kayo. "Mr. Tracy how are we going to hide them? I mean, we don't get many visitors but if someone flies overhead or happens to pass by on a boat…"

"I'm glad you asked that Kayo." Jeff brings up a hologram of the island. "As you all know, this island was once an active volcano. It's extinct now thank God but it left a series of caves and caverns beneath our feet more than large enough to house the Thunderbirds, with a bit of work of course."

They listen for the next two hours as they have never listened to him before. He's planned it all perfectly, which causes Kayo to wonder what he would have done if they'd said _'_ _no'_. Everything has been worked out to its most specific of details. She realizes that he'd been planning this for quite some time, very possibly years.

This Hackenbacker guy has designed a lift and a chute to get to Thunderbirds 1 and 2 and Kayo can't wait to see how they're going to make these rather interesting modifications to the pool… It's not going to be easy or simple, she can tell that much and it's going to cost an absolute fortune. Fortunately, that last part's not so much of a problem but they're going to have to be crafty if they're going to pull it off without being noticed.

"What about our jobs?" Scott asks for the older members of the group.

"Consider yourselves officially dismissed." A familiar voice tells them.

Kayo and Scott both instantly snap into a salute at the sight of a higher ranking officer. Colonel Casey's hologram tells them to stand down with a gesture of the hand. It's an automatic habit but both have received tongue lashings and been made to do sit-ups for not saluting or standing to attention fast enough in the past. It's practically part of their DNA now, something they do automatically without even thinking about it; Kayo often wonders if she'll wake up must before 6a.m ever again.

"It looks like you got a _'_ _yes'_ then Jeff." The colonel speaks with a friendly tone Kayo's not used to.

"You're okay with this?" Kayo asks the colonel a little surprised.

"I think you're insane, the lot of you." Casey laughs looking to her old friend. "But the world needs insane people with good hearts. Go ahead, save the world. I'm certainly not about to try and stop you."

It makes sense that Casey would be involved. They're going to need the GDF's support one way or another, even if it is just hiding paperwork and forgetting about the unusual activity in the sector of Tracy Island for the time being.

It doesn't take long for them to get down business. There's a lot to do. As far as they can tell, nobody suspects a thing. Jeff's pretending to build some extensions to the villa, Casey manages to hide the rest. They end up doing a fair amount of the construction work themselves, as much as possible that is.

They meet Hiram Hackenbacker. He's a genius, brilliant and probably one of the most awkward people Kayo's ever met. Jeff's told them they can be intimidating at times, they don't intend to be but they are but the first time they meet the man who designed the Thunderbirds, he clams up and the few words he does speak are stuttered.

It's John of all people who finally gets him to open up and start talking, although pretty much nobody else around the table can figure out what. Some sort of programming stuff about games? The good news is, that eventually he's talking normally to all of them. It's only a matter of time before Alan and Gordon stop using his real name and refer to him as "Brains", eventually once they realize he doesn't mind, they all do.

All in all, it takes a little over a year to have it all built. It's fair to say that they're having trouble being patient. The more they think about it, the more exciting this becomes.

It goes without saying that when they decide to launch Thunderbird 1 for the first time, everyone's there. Casey finds a way to escape from her military duties to come and watch. Grandma bakes a cake especially for the occasion. Keen for a little payback for those 3a.m drills and training sessions, Kayo encourages Gordon to offer the colonel a slice.

She'll admit it. Casey's a brave woman and eats it all, barely even grimacing. She politely refuses though. A glare from the older woman tells Kayo that the GDF official knows full well how much of a role she played in her torment and she's in for a rough time should she ever rejoin the GDF. Still, the ex-covert operative can't help but chuckle.

Jeff's at his desk with Brains just going over the procedure one more time with Scott. The eldest of the brothers has received many a lecture over the past few days about just what he's supposed to do and how to do it. His father can't quite seem to be able to stress to him enough that this is merely a _"_ _test run"_ and to _"_ _go easy"_.

"Ok then…" Jeff says looking up to them. "Is everyone here?"

"Yes." Grandma confirms putting her hands on her two youngest grandchildren's shoulders.

"Right. I guess we should start the countdown."

Everyone gathers around, waiting excitedly for what's about to happen. They know that right now, beneath their very feet, the fastest craft ever built by mankind is getting ready to launch. On a slightly more concerning note, it has the eldest of the brothers on board and they all know that if it explodes or goes up in flames, it's not going to be good for any of them and Gordon with is fire extinguisher is going to be utterly useless.

Jeff hesitates for a couple of seconds, before finally beginning the countdown.

Gradually the pool begins to move back. It's a miraculous feat of engineering. She just hopes that Scott's never in such a rush he forgets about Gordon who could be in there. It's possible to make out some of the beeping lights and machinery. It's pretty loud already, it's a good thing that Thunderbird 1 has good soundproofing otherwise Scott would probably be deafened when he launched off.

"5… 4… 3… 2… 1… Thunderbirds are go!"

The roar from underneath the island causes everything to shake. Those are some engines! Everyone looks up amazed as the tip of the craft is already visible. It can only be awe stopping as it emerges for the first time from beneath the island. They've all seen Thunderbird 1 before of course but it's not quite the same as watching her launch under her own power…

It's only after the deck chairs go flying that something apparently occurs to John.

"Um, dad I don't remember us reinforcing-"

There a sudden rather sinister shattering sound. It would seem that that shaking and the vibrations might have been something to worry about after all…

Within a matter of seconds, the glass all around them is cracking. Jeff is quick to push his mother and Gordon to safety, Casey does the same for John, whilst Kayo takes it upon herself to shield Alan. They're lucky, somehow nobody's hurt. Unfortunately, there are rather few windows left on the island after Thunderbird 1 is in the sky. The good news is, it didn't blow up.

Jeff is the first to risk his head out from behind the shelter of his desk. Slowly, everybody else looks up to see the craft already disappearing into the distance. It's an amazing sight, although it's slightly spoiled by the destruction around them.

"I think I'll go order some reinforced glass…" Jeff eventually mutters.


	25. Rewards

_**Just a short chapter!**_

 _ **/**_

It's not the actual rescue which Kayo finds the most rewarding.

They're terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. There isn't a moment when her hearts not racing and the adrenaline's not pumping. She feels a little guilty for getting some thrills from them, after all, its peoples' lives at stake but she can't help it and she's fairly sure the brothers feel the same.

Most of the time, she hitches a lift with one of the brothers; either Virgil or Scott. Her training makes her rather good at sneaking around and breaking into buildings. As unusual as it might sound, those are rather useful skills in the world of rescues. If there's ever someone making the rescue a little more difficult that it should be – and that can happen surprisingly often – she's usually the one who gets the dubious honor of having to deal with the troublemaker.

So far they're yet to fail. The world's been taken by storm by these mysterious Thunderbirds who seem to come from nowhere and never hang around for the cameras. It goes without saying that the media's a frenzy with speculation. So far however, security is air tight.

The best part she finds though, is after all the commotion has died down and everyone's safe. It's seeing the joy on the faces as loved ones are reunited, safe and sound.

Usually International Rescue don't hang around. Most times, they're gone before they can even be thanked. It's best for security, besides, it's almost a certainty that they'll be needed somewhere else in a few hours, so they need to get back to base to refuel.

Sometimes though, they do hang around. It's just to make sure that everyone's okay but also to take a breather. Those are the few rare times that Kayo enjoys. She just likes to stand back and watch.

If she's honest, she gets jealous sometimes and wonders if the boys do as well. These children who are reunited with their parents, both thinking that the other might be dead are enough to warm anybody's heart. Somewhere though at the back of her mind, something nags at her. She wishes that was her, after the fire, being reunited with her parents. She'd be surprised if the Tracy brothers didn't wish it was the same for them with their mother after the avalanche.

The jealousy passes however as she watches them hug, just happy to be together again.

Today's no different, the village has been saved from the flooding and as if by magic, the sun seems to have arrived alongside the Thunderbirds. With no reporters and no other immediate emergencies, they stay a little while just to make sure everything's alright. Whilst Scott and Virgil talk with some of the locals, Kayo finds herself watching some children playing from afar.

She remembers herself playing like that on the island with the boys, it doesn't even seem like a long time ago. They still muck around occasionally of course, Jeff frequently refers to them as "the biggest preschoolers he's ever met", which is reassuring really when you think they routinely handle the most powerful craft ever constructed.

She still thinks back to her parents and how she wishes that they were here. There's a part of her, the Kayo side; tough, enduring, maybe a touch cold which tells herself that there's no point dwelling any longer on their loss, nothing will bring them back so she might as well live with that fact. It's been so many years now… As a child, she believed maybe somewhat naively, that it would get easier with time. Well, it doesn't. She still wakes up sometimes from a nightmare wanting _Ibu_ and _Bapa_. It's an odd feeling and one that she can't quite understand, maybe Tanusha's not quite as gone as she pretends…

Her communicator beeps, it's rather too large and impractical for liking, at least for when it's being used in action and it's not ideal to have to reach into a pouch. Apparently Brains' working on a version which she could wear around her wrist, which sounds better to her.

It's John of course, up on Thunderbird 5 all alone, it's a wonder he's not lonely up there…

"John." Kayo instinctively fears the worst. "The disaster's been dealt with here. There's not another one is there?"

"No." John smiles reassuringly. "It's all quiet for now. Dad just wanted me to check on how you were doing."

"Well, for the moment it's all fine." Kayo replies glancing over to Virgil and Scott who give her a brief wave. "We'll be back shortly."

"FAB." Comes the reply. "Thunderbird 5 out."

Kayo allows herself to smile briefly as she leans against the stone wall. Her eyes slowly drift towards the sun which is beginning to set on the horizon. It truly is a beautiful sight. She's so far.

It suddenly strikes her that she's so far from home… Malaysia is a lifetime ago. She wonders if her parents are up there somewhere. Are they proud of her? Would they love the woman that she has become? Kayo's no angel, she doesn't pretend to be. She's done things that she's rather ashamed of, some that she'd even rather forget.

She looks down at her hands. Those same hands have pulled a trigger. Jeff was right, all those years ago, she couldn't forget, no matter how hard she tries.

Her parents wouldn't want her to have blood on her hands, that's a little too close to uncle for anyone's liking.

A football lands at her feet, she looks down surprised for a few moments. The local kids stare at her with wide eyes, they daren't come any closer and for a few moments, Kayo just gawks back at them.

Then slowly, she lowers her gaze to look at the ball by her feet. Without knowing why, a small smile graces her lips. She kicks the ball up and does some keepie-uppies, the kids watch impressed. She does a few more tricks before gently passing it back to them. The kids exchange looks and chatter amongst themselves before a young girl steps forward and tries with her best English:

"You play?"

Kayo blinks a couple of times and the kids look a little unsettled, like they know they've done something wrong. After a few seconds though, her smile returns and she can barely believe the words which escape her lips:

"Okay."

The kids exchange joyful glances as she joins in.

Kayo still plays. Life at International Rescue is somewhat hectic and leaves them little time to themselves but what little time they do have, they take advantage of, sometimes to perhaps slightly excessive levels and Jeff or Grandma has to remind them that they can't do any rescuing if they're covered in plaster!

It might seem a little strange, she's nearing 21 and playing with some 8 year olds, it's out of character for her but she does so none-the-less. There's something about the light-heartedness of it all that allows her to forget about all of the stresses of her life. The children are laughing, she has to step down her game level a little for them but she shows them a couple of tricks.

"Kayo…" It's Scott's voice, his chuckling slightly. "What are you doing?"  
"Oh I uh…" She's a little embarrassed. "Playing?"

"Looks like fun…" Virgil declares. "Can we join in?"

Kayo looks to the kids. Their English isn't all that good but they've got the gist of what the two other operatives of International Rescue are requesting and by the looks of things, they couldn't be more thrilled. It's only a matter of seconds before the pilots of Thunderbirds 1 and 2 are kicking the ball around.

That's what Kayo likes the most about missions. It's not the adrenaline rush or the fame, it's the knowledge that she's helped save lives. She can be proud, they all can.

It's worth it just to hear the children laugh.


	26. Pranks

_**Thanks for all the reviews! I should point out that there's one tiny bit of bad language up ahead.**_

 _ **/**_

"Gordon!"

"Huh?" The second youngest son's head snaps around.

"That sounded like Kayo…" Virgil notes.

"Oh God please no…" Gordon mutters terror sinking in.

"You're in for it now." Scott declares a smirk plastered over his face.

The terror on Gordon Tracy's face is very real. He looks around the room in a panic. It's like he wasn't expecting his eldest brother to be there. Scott's standing there a mixture of puzzled and bemused, Virgil's just smiling, enjoying every second of his immediate younger brother's fear as he senses that he's in trouble, Alan's still in bed, Grandma - well nobody really knows where she is and Jeff's reading a newspaper and not paying much attention to his sons.

"I thought you were in the shower!" Gordon finally gets out looking at his eldest brother. "You usually are at this time in the morning."

"Yeah but I let Kayo go in first this time, she's always moaning that I don't leave any hot water."

"But that means…" Gordon looks towards the hallway in fear. "Oh, shit!"

He doesn't say anything else, instead legging it out of the door before Scott can scold him for his choice of language.

It's literally a couple of seconds later that Kayo comes tearing out of the hallway. Her eyes are narrowed and furious. She's wrapped herself up in her towel to keep herself decent but it's clear that she's only just come out of the shower.

That's not really why the brothers are staring at her though and the fact that they are is only angering her further.

"Well, that's an interesting look for you Kayo…" Is all that Virgil eventually says.

"Where is he?! Where is that good for nothing little-"

"He ran off towards the jungle a couple of minutes ago." Scott informed her. "You should follow him, you're the perfect color for blending in."

"Yeah, if we had any lime trees." Virgil replies.

It's all it takes for the two brothers to be practically rolling around on the floor with laughter. Kayo folds her arms across her chest in an attempt to stop her towel from falling down. They're lucky she's not dressed otherwise she'd probably be using some of her combat training on them right now.

It's rare for her to be on the wrong end of one of Gordon's pranks, usually he's more cautious. He's learned the hard way that she doesn't exactly enjoy being on the receiving end of a bad joke. Fortunately, years of having to escape his raging brothers have given him plenty of practice running away and he's already out of sight, although regrettably for him, he's still on Kayo's hit list and so long as he's there, nowhere on Earth will be safe for him. It's just a matter of time before she finds him.

For now however, it would seem her anger is currently directed at the two brothers laughing at her rather green state.

"Shut up!" Kayo snaps raising her right fist menacingly.

"Kayo!' Jeff's voice is stern. "You know how I feel about violence this early in the morning…"

"Sorry Mr. Tracy…" She begrudgingly mutters. "Where did he go?"

"He headed east." Virgil replies looking out in that very direction. "Towards the radio tower."

She doesn't reply, she has the radio tower locked in her sights and is ready to go hunting. Whilst Gordon might be able to outpace her in the water, there's no way he's getting away from her on the land, especially not when she's this worked up. She makes it as far as the door before Jeff in a very calm voice calls out to her, he doesn't even look up from his newspaper.

"Um, Kayo, some clothes perhaps?"

She looks down sure enough she's standing there with nothing more than a bath towel to keep her decent. Whilst she's comfortable in her skin, she'll admit that she's likely to lose the towel if she goes running around the island and she has enough of a sense of modesty to know that's maybe not the done thing. That said, she distinctly recalls Scott running through the house stark naked one time after yet another of Gordon's pranks…

She lets out a sigh before retreating to her room in order to change. She's well aware that every second she wastes dilly-dallying is giving Gordon more time to hide, which means she'll have to wait all the longer before she can get her fingers around his neck.

It's less than a minute later, when she remerges from her room struggling to get her one last shoe on. She charges out of the door not even bothering to say _"_ _good morning"_ to a rather startled looking Brains as she runs past him. Gordon's got a head start but she's not about to let him get away that easily…

The boys watch her chase off into the jungle, until she's completely disappeared. Then, Virgil simply gets up and walks off.

"Where are you going?" Scott asks his brother.

"To get a shovel, I might as well get a head start with Gordon's grave." Virgil replies before walking off.

"He'd probably like to be buried on the beach!" Scott calls after him.

An increasingly puzzled Brains turns to Mr. Tracy wondering if he's going to let his sons and Kayo continue on this morning's apparently brutal start. To his surprise, Jeff was still reading his newspaper rather nonchalantly without a care in the world. The genius thought about mentioning the fact that his not-quite-but-almost adopted daughter was hunting in the jungle for his forth son intent on killing him but decided against it, he hadn't been here long but he'd already grasped that there were some things that were best left to play themselves out.

Jeff lets out a slight sigh, as he looks out towards the forest before turning back to a familiar face.

"Don't look at me…" He speaks quietly to the picture on his desk. "You're the one who wanted a large family!"

It takes Kayo the best part of half a day to track down Gordon. She uses all of her G.D.F training and a few tricks she'd perfected herself.

Eventually, it's the snare trap with his favorite pair of swimming trunks used as bait that draws him out and into her clutches. It's fair to say, he doesn't much like being hung upside-down from a tree branch but then he shouldn't have snuck green die into her shower water. Kayo allows him to swing for a little while before stepping out from her hiding place when she's had enough of him begging to be let down and screaming out apologies.

"I don't really know why you're so upset." He tells her as she looks at him arms folded across her chest with a decidedly unamused expression on her face. "It'll make great camouflage for you!"

"Camouflage?" Kayo repeats outraged gesturing at her skin. "Camouflage?! I'm lime green! The only way this could be less discrete is if it came with glitter and glowed in the dark!"

"Uh… Yeah it will…" Gordon admits a little sheepishly. "Just wait until it gets a little darker."

Kayo face palms. Great! Just great! She wonders if the prankster had thought about how they'll cope if they need her on a mission because she can't very well go along looking like a glow-in the dark Martian! This is one of the few times she'd been on the receiving end of one of his bad jokes and for good reason. She's rather tempted to leave him there and see if any of his brothers ever find him, that's if they go looking of course.

The worst thing is this moron seems to think it's all rather funny and some big joke.

"Look on the bright side Kayo, at least I didn't use the pink dye!" He told her trying to laugh it off and hoping that she would join in.  
"The bright side?! Gordon I don't think- Wait…" She pauses suddenly going over what he had just said in her head. "Pink stuff? You mean there's more?"  
"Yeah, about half a gallon of the stuff…"

Kayo stops to think for a moment, managing to block out Gordon's explanations about what it is and where it came from. She doesn't particularly care about the latter and trusts him not to use anything potentially harmful on his friends and family. What she's more interested in is the potential of the dye… A slightly sinister plot has just formulated in her mind.

She cuts Gordon down without warning him and there's a loud _thump_ as he hits the ground. Almost instantly, he starts complaining but she cuts him short.

"I take it you want to live another day?"

"Uh, yeah that would be nice." Gordon replies looking a little uneasy.

"Then I think you're going to help me… And if you're lucky, you might just make it out of this unscathed."

She's not too sure if Gordon put on the gulp for theatrical purposes or if he's genuinely terrified. Probably a bit of both, he knows that she would never _really_ hurt him at least not much but there's a look in her eye which tells him that he'd better not argue with her.

The following morning, Scott came running into the living room with a towel around his waist. He knew that his father and Virgil at least were in there. He'd heard a bit of commotion that morning after coming back from his run with a still rather green Kayo but had passed it off as nothing, he now had a rather bad feeling that he knew what had happened.

"My, Scott…" Came Kayo's voice from the other side of the couch. "That's an interesting shade of pink."

"You did this…" He realized didn't you.

"She's been looking smug all morning." An also very pink Virgil agreed.

"How could I have done this?" Kayo asked looking innocent. "I was out running with you Scott."

The eldest brother turned to his father, she had a point he didn't see when she could have made the switch. It was then that he noticed that Jeff, still reading his morning newspaper was also bright pink although he didn't seem to be making a big deal out of it. That left one more suspect, who had just at that moment emerged from the bathroom. Gordon entered the living room, his head hung low as if he had just been caught out whilst preforming some terrible deed.

"I admit it…" He let out in a sigh. "I did it…"  
"Somehow I doubt that…" Scott replied noticing that Gordon was about the same shade as he was.

"Has anyone thought about what happens if we're called out on a mission?!" Virgil asked for once truly fuming.

The thought of International Rescue turning up at the sight of an emergency all dyed a bright shade of pink makes for a rather odd mental image and admittedly one which Kayo hadn't quite considered. They're a relatively new organisation and have only been operating for a few months, something like that would be a blow to their professional image to say the least. Perhaps she should have thought this through a little more…

"KAYO KYRANO!"

Oh Hell… She really should have thought this through more. She doesn't need her G.D.F training to tell her that she needs to run fast and far right now if she doesn't want her life to be abruptly ended by the pink raging Grandma Tracy coming towards her.

She decides that she'll leave the pranks to Gordon as she runs away as fast as her legs can carry her. It looks like she'll be the one hiding in the jungle today…


	27. Weightless

_**Thanks again for the reviews. Just a head's up that there may be a slightly longer than usual wait for the next chapter.**_

 _ **/**_

Space, the final frontier… Man's greatest conquest… And somewhere Kayo's not entire comfortable.

There's the fact that the only thing saving them from a rather unpleasant death is a few feet of steel (not that she doesn't trust Brains' engineering) and then there's the lack of gravity. She finds herself floating around helplessly inside of Thunderbird 5, unable to stop herself from spinning.

Jeff's rather keen for them all to do at least a brief spell of satellite duty, even though John seems to have practically been born for the role. The Tracy boys' father's logic is that one day maybe John might not be able to man the satellite for whatever reason sinister or otherwise and if that ever happens, they'll still need their eye in the sky, so it's vital that one of them can take his place if the need ever arises.

She's the last one to be sent up there, well asides Alan who's been deemed too young by his father, grandmother and eldest brother. Scott, Virgil and Gordon have all had a shot though, they're more or less suited to it but none quite so much as John, the isolation barely seems to affect him, if anything he appears to be thriving in it.

She's not quite so keen.

She was born and spent the first few years of her life in the Borneo rainforest, after that she was taken to Tracy Island… She's very much a child of the outdoors and these close confined spaces with their recycled air don't suit her. They're cold, dead and unnatural.

She shouldn't be floating like this, not in such a clumsy fashion. She's not used to being unable to control her trajectory. Of course, she understands why it's happening and the physics behind it but somehow she can't figure how to apply them here in order to prevent this ridiculous spinning.

Unfortunately for her, John who was supposed to be showing her the ropes seemed to find her predicament rather amusing and was being less than helpful as he floats there as if he was born in zero-gravity. He's been laughing at her and teasing her for the past fifteen minutes and it's beginning to ware her patience a little thin. In much the same way as she doesn't like being at the wrong end of one of Gordon's pranks, her pride's never been able to put up with being mocked too well either.

"John! Stop tormenting Kayo!" Jeff requests before pausing to reflect on his words. "Now there's something I never thought I'd have to say…"

"Okay dad…" John eventually stops chuckling. "Hang on Kayo, I'll help you out."

He takes her hand, stopping her from spinning uselessly. It was a spin he'd actually put her in earlier when he'd grabbed her foot and sent her spinning literally head over heels. She's not too unhappy to be relatively stationary again, so far, she's not all that impressed with space.

John gives her his best apologetic smile which leaves decidedly to be desired. She just rolls her eyes, it's one thing punching Gordon in the face but the second eldest Tracy brother just doesn't seem worth the effort, especially not when she's got to spend the next week up here with him. No, she'll have to learn to live with all of his space-oddities at least for a little while.

They made their way over towards the airlock. Jeff's about to go back into Thunderbird 3 and return to the Island. He gives them a last bit of advice.

"Remember-" He addresses both of them. "Keep in contact."  
"We will do." Kayo promises waving.  
"And for goodness' sake, try not to blow up Thunderbird 5!"  
"We won't dad." John declares giving Kayo a knowing smile.  
"Well, then… I'll see you two in a week!"

They wait for a couple of minutes until they can see Thunderbird 3 whizzing away back towards the island. Kayo would rather like to stay on the ring, at least there's some gravity there! Unfortunately, that's not where most of the action happens and she finds herself following John back into the zero-G zone.

She doesn't know how he makes it look so easy, practise she guesses. They have trouble getting him to come back down to Earth sometimes, he's had time to get used to it, unlike her. It's very much like trying to learn how to ride a bike. _Ouch!_ She bumps into another wall. She just knows she's going to be black and blue by the end of the day.

"You don't like this very much, do you?" John guesses.  
"What clued you in?" She asks sailing past the control panel she had been aiming for.  
"That's because you're applying Earth physics." He informs her drifting over to where she just collided with the wall again. "Think of it like dancing more than running or fighting."

She hesitates trying to imagine what he's talking about. He makes it sound so easy… She remembers being taught how to dance by Grandma and Jeff. She can't even remember why they'd thought that she needed to learn, other than the fact that she didn't know how. What she can recall is that they'd said it wasn't about strength but rather grace, balance and timing. Now, to figure out how to apply those to the depths of space…

She cautiously pushes herself away from the wall she had just collided with. It's not quite the direction that she wanted to start travelling in but at least she's going at a slightly slower speed. John reaches out and gently grabs her round the wrist as she travels past. It's enough to halt her.

"Just try floating…" John advises.

She nods, relaxing slightly as he lets her go. She closes her eyes and tries to stay as still as physically possible. It's strange up here. She can't tell which way's up and which way's down. There's a lot of noise too as John listens to various radio signals all coming from Earth. She's got no idea how he manages to keep track of all of them but somehow he copes and does a brilliant job too.

A little calmer, she dares open her eyes and reach out to one of the control panels. She knows roughly what to do and how to do it having been briefed by Jeff. It takes a few minutes for her to completely get to grips with the controls but once she's got the hang on it, she finds the task relatively easy.

Everything seems quiet, for the moment at least. It's always a fine line defining an emergency that needs their attention to one which the local authorities could deal with. They all know that sometimes, someone will die but meanwhile the Thunderbirds might be somewhere else saving ten lives. Its painful decision and one that she doesn't envy John and his father having to make.

"Hey, Kayo do you mind if I show you something?" John asks her after about an hour and a half of listening to Earth's radio signals.

"Sure." She replies getting a little bored. "What is it?"

"I'll show you."

That spikes her curiosity. She follows him out onto the gravity ring.

She feels unnaturally heavy. John however barely even seems to register the change as he walks along purposefully. She wonders what this is all about, it's not like the second eldest of the brothers to be so secretive. Eventually he stops and looks out into the depths of space as if he's looking for something out there amongst the stars. She waits patiently in silence as he searches for whatever it is. She hopes this isn't another one of those things where he's become distracted by the beauty of the stars and that he isn't about to start explaining the workings of the cosmos to her.

He's a bit like Gordon in that respect. If you get one of them started about either the water and all of its glory or the wonders of space, then it can be near impossible to get them to shut up. What's impressive is that they can always give you new facts. What's annoying is that they can't detect when you no longer want to know.

Fortunately though, it looks like it's something else which is on his mind.

"There!" He points out suddenly. "See it?"  
"That star?" She asks following where he's pointing at.  
"Yes." He replies with an odd smile.  
"Uh… What's so special about it?"  
"Not much…" He chuckles as a reply. "If you ignore the name… It's called Kyrano."

Kayo blinks a couple of times, she's struggling to register what he just said. Slowly, she presses her hand up against the glass. She wishes that the burning ball of gas was a little closer. She knows it's impossible but she's like to reach out and hold it. For a moment, she can understand John's fascination with the stars. Who knows? Maybe some form of life, no matter how strange or primitive might be being warmed by that sun, hundreds of thousands of light years away.

"I'm sorry it took this long." He continues on despite noticing that she's a little distant at the moment. "You remember that promise I made you all those years ago?"  
"How could I forget?" She speaks quietly before turning to him. "Thank you, John."  
"You're welcome…" Is all that he says as a reply.

How many years has it been? She's no longer a scared kid whose just lost her parents and has found herself on a strange island trying to come to grips with a new language and the fact that her life's been torn apart. He's grown too. They're very much adults now, their own people. Still, he remembered and kept his promise that he made one stary August night when they were waiting for the meteors.

There may be a single tear on the side of her cheek now, she can't quite tell and for once, she doesn't really care or feel like it makes her weak.

She looks out into the vast expanse of space with a slightly heavy heart but one with a fair amount of happiness. She's never really visited her parents' graves, not since the accident, Jeff's offered to take her more than once but she always refuses. She can't face going back, not after what happened. Perhaps, as odd as it might sound, this new star might become their graves. Their bodies won't be there but it's a place for her to look to and remember them without necessarily thinking about what happened to them.

She thinks they'd like that. She hopes they would at least. She hopes that they're up there (or should that be up here?) somewhere and that they're proud of her.

The sun's beginning to rise, peaking around the planet.

High above Earth, her heart suddenly feels a little lighter.


End file.
